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Politics & Government

Eagan's Diverse Employer Base Keeps Unemployment Rate Low

Eagan has a 5.9 percent unemployment rate, while Minnesota's is 7.3 percent.

Eagan was second only to Maple Grove in job growth between 2000 and 2007, said City Administrator Tom Hedges, citing data from the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

As a matter of fact, Hedges said, Eagan represented 41 percent of the job growth in the region during that same period, with 9,000 of 22,000 new jobs added.

While job losses in Eagan over the last several years have followed the regional trend at about 5.5 percent, DEED figures put Eagan's unemployment rate at 5.9 percent, compared to 6.7 percent in Dakota County, 7.3 percent in Minnesota, and 9.6 percent in the country as a whole. 

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In Eagan's favor are its diverse diverse employer base offering job opportunities in many different sectors, including transportation, healthcare, information, manufacturing, finance, and insurance. 

According to preliminary figures from the city's most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), here is a list of the 10 largest employers in Eagan.

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  • Thomson Reuters. They are by far the largest employer in Eagan, accounting for over 17 percent of the total employment in Eagan with 6,800 employees, up from 5,500 in 2001.
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota comes in second with just under 3,000 employees or about 8 percent of the local workforce, again representing an increase from 2001 when they had 2,200 employees. 
  • Delta Airlines and Lockheed Martin ranked three and four in 2010, although changes in both companies leave the future uncertain. Between 2001 and 2009, the last year for which data was available, Delta/Northwest Airlines shed 1,000 jobs. Lockheed Martin remained steady during that same timeframe. 
  • The United Postal Sevice Bulk Mail Center and United Parcel Service are tied at fifth and sixth with 1,400 jobs, or about 5 percent of the total local workforce each. However, the Postal Service doubled their employee population since 2001, when they were ranked seventh. 
  • The remaining top employers are Cocal Cola Midwest Bottling, Ecolab, Wells Fargo Mortgage, and Prime Therapeutics.
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