Executive Summary
In 100 years, what will your descendants look back and say you did to build a community they can be proud of?
The Center for Economic Inclusion was founded in 2017 to help leaders in the public and private sectors create a new economic future for the Minneapolis-St. Paul region – one that fully includes and benefits from the contributions of Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian residents.
Our work at the Center for Economic Inclusion centers the Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Hispanic workers, business owners, advocates, and communities who have been excluded from economic opportunity by design throughout our region’s history.
This work is data informed. We created the Indicators for an Inclusive Regional Economy in 2019 as a guide for leaders in all sectors to understand the dimensions of economic inclusion – and exclusion – within our region.
We’re now excited to launch an updated version of the Indicators for an Inclusive Regional Economy. We’ve revised these Indicators over the past 11 months in partnership with dozens of stakeholders in our region, a majority of whom were Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, or Asian, and who represent all sectors of our economy. Major additions include:
Inclusive Growth - Economic Growth. Economic Inclusion. These measures assess employment, pay, and wealth within the regional economy. A growing and inclusive economy will enable people of all races and ethnicities to find meaningful jobs, earn equal pay for equal work, and support a basic standard of living for themselves and their families. It also creates opportunities for families to build wealth, which enables people to weather emergencies, generate additional income, and invest in themselves.
Business Development - Investment Matters. Ownership Matters. These measures examine the racial demographics of employer business ownership and payroll, and investment in businesses by neighborhood. An inclusive regional economy enables more Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian individuals to own and grow businesses, facilitates the growth of their payrolls to ensure that these businesses are generating value and wealth, and provides an equitable share of capital investment to business owners of color, and businesses located in undercapitalized neighborhoods.
Human Capital - Develop Talent. Increase Prosperity. These measures examine how well educational institutions prepare students for careers, and how effective employers are at elevating racially diverse talent. Higher education improves one’s employment prospects and earnings. In an inclusive economy, all our region’s workers have the necessary skills and credentials to gain employment and access opportunities that advance in their careers, and workers of every race and ethnicity are able to rise to senior leadership positions in their organizations.
Access to Opportunity - Connecting to the regional economy. These measures explore the factors that make economic opportunity accessible, including housing that is affordable, homeownership, an effective public transit system, and a high-speed internet connection. An inclusive economy enables Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian residents to afford rent in neighborhoods of their choosing, buy homes, reach job centers, and digitally connect.
Sense of Belonging - Inclusion retains diverse talent – and catalyzes economic growth. These measures assess residents’ sense of feeling welcomed and at home in the region. An inclusive economy enables Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian residents to live lives free of racial discrimination, access employment without facing additional hurdles due to prejudice, and choose to stay in the region. It also welcomes newcomers and enables them to live in meaningful, fulfilling ways.
Data from the Indicators for an Inclusive Regional Economy
Demographics
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Regional population
Inclusive Growth
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Employment rate for individuals age 16 and up
Inclusive Growth
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Average annual earnings of full-time workers
Inclusive Growth
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Percent of full-time workers earning a living wage
Inclusive Growth
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Percent of households that earn income from financial assets (interest, dividends, rental income, etc)
Business Development
15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro (MSA), 2019
Ownership of businesses with at least one employee
Business Development
15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro (MSA), 2019
Payroll of businesses with at least one employee
Business Development
15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro (MSA), 2020
Value of bank loans to small businesses
Human Capital
State of Minnesota, 2020
Graduation rates at two-year public and private institutions of higher education
Human Capital
State of Minnesota, 2020
Graduation rates at four-year public and private institutions of higher education
Human Capital
State of Minnesota, 2015-2019
Share of Minnesota adults age 25 to 44 with a postsecondary degree
Human Capital
State of Minnesota, 2020
Percent of business executives
Access to Opportunity
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Percent of low-income renters that spend more than 30% of their income on rent
Access to Opportunity
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Percent of middle-income households that own their home
Access to Opportunity
15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro (MSA), 2020
Percent of middle-income home loan applicants denied a mortgage
Access to Opportunity
15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro (MSA), 2019
Share of regional jobs accessible by transit in neighborhoods with median household incomes below $100,000
Access to Opportunity
7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Percent of households with a high-speed broadband subscription
Sense of Belonging
State of Minnesota, 2021
Percent of Minnesotans who report having experienced employment discrimination
Sense of Belonging
State of Minnesota, 2021
Percent of Minnesotans who believe their race and ethnic group experiences discrimination
Sense of Belonging
To and from the 7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro, 2015-2019
Migration rates per 1,000 working age adults
What you can do: Strategies to build an inclusive economy
Employers
- Employers can commit to hiring and supporting racially diverse leadership teams, which research shows can contribute to increased productivity and profitability
- Employers can commit to paying all employees a living wage and offering benefits including health insurance and retirement accounts, which can increase employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity.
- Employers can establish a goal of cultivating an anti-racist and inclusive workplace culture, including through company communications, workplace policies, and regular trainings, which can improve employee attraction and retention and boost productivity.
Community advocates
- Community advocates can invest in efforts to help minority-owned businesses complete business registration, MBE certification, and other bureaucratic steps to achieve recognition.
- Community advocates can invest in community-based organizations that provide training, mentorship, and professional networks for Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian leaders, including organizations identified in Minnesota Compass’ Leadership Program Directory.
- Community advocates can support organizations that welcome new international immigrants and domestic in-migrants, provide spaces for connection and belonging, and help newcomers access jobs, housing, and services.
Local policymakers
- City and county officials can improve low wage job quality by increasing the minimum wage, requiring paid sick leave, fighting wage theft, strengthening workers’ rights to organize, and ensuring fair scheduling practices.
- City and county officials can implement innovative new strategies to support financial stability and asset-building for low-income residents, such as the City of St. Paul’s People’s Prosperity Guaranteed Income Pilot
- City and county officials can add criteria to ask about the racial diversity of consultant teams, and the consultants’ actions to support racially diverse and inclusive workplaces, when issuing procurement contracts, workforce incentives, publicly held land sales approvals, and more.
State policymakers
- State policymakers can prohibit employers from requesting that prospective employees divulge their pay history. This can help prevent salary discrimination and close racial and gender-based wage gaps.
- State policymakers can double the preference awarded during contracting to businesses owned and operated by women, individuals with substantive physical disabilities, identified minority groups, military veterans, and those located in economically disadvantaged areas from six to 12 percent and double the limit on small contracts that may be entered without competitive bidding from $25,000 to $50,000.
- State policymakers can invest in a proposed Center for Economic Inclusion-administered Minnesota Inclusive Job Growth Fund to fuel job creation through creative capital investments in Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Hispanic-owned businesses in growth sectors and workforce solutions throughout undercapitalized communities in Minnesota.