During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020), government officials expected unemployment to increase significantly as businesses and schools across the state shut down or severely limited their operations. Ten months later, however, while unemployment continues to be a top concern of government officials, the employment landscape…

Like many states, Minnesota has incurred large budget deficits during the past two years. Those deficits have, in turn, led to changes in a number of areas of state government, particularly higher education. Faculty have incurred pay freezes and layoffs, programs have closed, and tuition increased. Campuses within the MnSCU system have been…

The Minnesota school district described in this case study indicated a reluctance to plan for and adjust to change brought about by declining enrollment. Instead of closing underutilized facilities, the district has bowed to strong community pressure to keep open all three elementary schools in this mining town of 6,000 people. Forced termination…

The principal roles for publicly sponsored retraining programs are twofold: (1) to reduce the private and social costs associated with unnecessary delays in the reemployment process; and (2) to assist in the replacement of specific human capital lost when a permanent layoff takes place. Nine different demonstration projects and operating programs…

Enrollment decline is a problem in the majority of Minnesota's school districts. Declining enrollment means that school administrators must plan for the financial difficulties arising from cutting budgets, reducing staff, closing buildings, and ending programs. Written to stimulate effective planning for declining enrollment, this manual…

Declining enrollment in Minnesota schools is the subject of this collection of five case studies and one planning manual. The information in the manual and in the case studies of representative school districts is published together to provide persons interested in overall state policy with examples in enough detail to provide a sense of what is…

The employee contract between the Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges and the Minnesota Community College Faculty Asssociation, the exclusive representative for all instructors, counselors, and librarians, is presented, covering the years 1985 through 1987. The 30 articles in the agreement set forth rights and provisions related to…

The Older Worker Project was conducted to provide employment services to unemployed persons aged 45 and older who live in the western part of the Hennepin County (Minneapolis, Minnesota) area. Although the expected result was permanent employment of the participants, the intention of this demonstration project was to refine service approaches…