Unemployment benefits cost the state $1.06 billion in 2002, the highest amount ever paid by the Minnesota Department of Economic Security.

"The tremendous growth of Minnesota's workforce and the increase in average wages have made some of the impacts of unemployment much greater," Jack Weidenback, the department's director of unemployment insurance programs said. "Unfortunately, the $1 billion paid out in (unemployment insurance) benefits not only indicates that a lot of people have lost their jobs in this recession, it also shows that people are staying unemployed longer and are having a tough time finding new employment."

Unemployment claims filed in January 2003 total about 38,073, according to department data. People ages 40 to 49 and those with only a high school education filed the highest number of claims (See chart, Initial Claims filed for unemployment benefits).

"We have a lot of people coming in and the number of (job) openings is down," Richard Swenson, the department's job service field office regional manager said.

Eleven weeks is the average length of time people generally remain unemployed, Swenson said. The duration jumped to about 14 weeks last year.

Depending upon state formulas, unemployed workers can collect state unemployment checks for up to 26 weeks. The federal government offers a 13-week extension. Benefits are only a fraction of a person's former salary and most workers lose their health insurance benefits and go without it or pay substantial amounts for COBRA insurance, he said.

"It goes by fast," Swenson said.

In southwest Minnesota, dwindling jobs and low wages often means losing population. People who opt to stay in the region take big cuts in pay, he said. Those with specialized skills might be unable to find any work in the region.

"Eighty-five percent of the people that work in Minnesota work in the metro area. Your chances of getting a job are tremendously better in the cities," Swenson said. "We've had a huge out-migration of people. A lot of the immigrants that were working, they couldn't afford to stay around -- they don't have relatives to stay with. They couldn't stay because there is not a lot of hope that more jobs are going to show up, at least in the short term."

Others leave because of low wages in the region, he said.

"A lot of people want to stay, but the wage scale is so much lower," Swenson said.

Average weekly wages paid across Minnesota vary greatly, based on department data. For instance, private industry pays an average of $873 statewide, $696 in Minneapolis, $570 in McLeod County, $497 in Lyon County and $345 in Lincoln County. When factoring together all industries, including state, federal and local governments, average weekly wages are $881 statewide, $704 in Minneapolis, $573 in McLeod County, $530 in Lyon County and $386 in Lincoln County (See Average Weekly Wages chart).

While wages from private industry increased an average of $54 a week since 2001 in Minneapolis, they went up about $40 statewide, $34 in Lyon County, $30 in Kandiyohi County (to $446), $44 in Nobles County (to $436), $43 in Big Stone County (to $348) and $10 in Murray County (to $371).

Although a large part of the business community thinks low wages are good, this is shortsighted, Swenson said. Studies have shown that up to 85 percent of high school students leave the region shortly after graduation, never to return. And although housing might be cheaper in small towns, a study done a couple of years ago by the department and the Marshall Chamber of Commerce found that the local cost of living was slightly greater than 100 percent of the cost of living in the Twin Cities.

"Wage is still the big issue," Swenson said. "If some company comes in and says they need to hire 200 people at $15 an hour, we'd have people coming by the hundreds. People don't like to hear that, but that's true."

Low wages statewide

Based on a recent job vacancy survey published by the department, a majority of vacancies across the state are offering low wages (See chart, Median State wage offers by occupation).

"It's hard a lot of times to match wages with what you were currently at," Cameron Macht, the department's regional analyst for the central and southwest planning regions said. "We work really hard to place people in similar jobs, to replace or match their wage that they had at their former employer, but it's not always possible."

Job Service is generally the first place people turn when they lose their jobs, Kevin Honetschlager, the department's job service area office manager said. The agency helps people initiate claims for unemployment, either by telephone, over the Internet or with a paper application.

The agency has 53 centers statewide and a number of smaller satellite stations. Each has a resource room for job seekers stocked with resource books and equipped with computers connected to the Internet.

Through statistical modeling, the agency identifies people least likely to return to work and focuses most on placing them. In some cases, people have worked at two or three places that each have closed, Honetschlager said. The downturn in the electronics industry is a good example.

"That computer explosion of jobs hit, and it can only explode so much and then it's going to level off," Honetschlager said. "We've kind of hit that leveling off and then some. It's hard to say when the next great leap will occur in some new technology where all of a sudden there's a high demand for skills related to that again. Some of those people might have to look at switching occupations."

How people handle unemployment is unique to each individual, he said. People with roots in the region might stick around until they find something. Others pick up and move on.

"If you've left a good-paying job in southwest Minnesota, it's going to be tough to find a similar job with similar pay," Honetschlager said. "There's only so many of those good-paying jobs around. The more restrictions you put on it, the harder it is to find another job.

"The region hit a peak a couple of years ago and now is sliding down," he said. "The question becomes, how long does the slide continue?"