Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on communities of color, that already bad situation has now worsened. Rated in 2018 second in terms of overall best states in which to live in the US, in the same year Minnesota ranked close to the bottom for both employment gap by race (47th) and income gap by race (38th).Īccording to a report released last year, even before the mass unemployment triggered by the coronavirus took hold, some 10% of black American residents of the Twin Cities were unemployed compared with just under 4% of white American residents. Factor in the black and ethnic minority experience, and the state is suddenly not such a good place to live.ĭespite Minneapolis celebrating itself as the city of Prince and Paisley Park, Minnesota’s black education and employment outcomes by US national standards have long been dismal in comparison with those of the state’s white population. Employment – pre-pandemic, at least – was high, and St Paul serves as the global headquarters for 3M.īut there is another side to living in Minnesota, often ignored.
Its politics too have long reflected a strong progressive strand, represented by figures such as the late senator Paul Wellstone, once described as the most liberal member of the Senate.
