Jun. 15—MANKATO — Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove visited Jones Metal Inc. Tuesday to kick off the Summer of Jobs campaign in Mankato.

The campaign, which begins with a focus on manufacturing, aims to connect employers and job seekers amid record high job vacancies, the department said.

"Welding, which is a very specific occupation, has, as we looked up this morning, 850 openings across the state," Grove said.

Jones Metal, a Mankato-based metal fabricator that is celebrating its 80th anniversary Wednesday, said the company is feeling the impacts of the labor shortage.

"It's hard. We have certain areas in manufacturing in our production facility that are really difficult to find people for. Machining and running a CNC machining center, that's the hardest spot to fill," said Sarah Richards, Jones Metal CEO and co-owner. "It's a complicated technical manufacturing position, and it really does require some schooling and experience before you're proficient at it."

Richards said the company has had to adapt to having fewer people.

"It's not that we wanted to, but it's just been forced on us. We've turned to automating things that normally would not be automated," she said. "When I first came back to the family business, which is about 14 years ago now, I was surprised at all of the things that I sort of took for granted that are made by somebody. I use them every day, but they're made by somebody."

But the company is working to introduce a new generation to manufacturing by partnering with Mankato Area Public Schools to showcase opportunities to students.

"We do everything we can to be in and around those students when we can. And we participate on advisory boards to make sure that we can help them tailor their programs for local manufacturing. That partnership is really important because we love to be able to take students in as interns and really show them, expose them to manufacturing. And then we love to hire them full time once they graduate," Richards said.

Mankato West graduate Paige Christianson, who now works at Jones Metal after interning with the company in high school, was among employees who met with Grove on Tuesday.

Christianson told the commissioner she's considering a career in the field.

"It's different," Christianson said. "I like it a lot."

"We need more young people diving into these careers," Grove told her.

Kim Mueller, Mankato Schools career pathway coordinator, said exposure to careers that students may not have been in contact with before is important.

Mueller said the district has about 10 students who go through their welding training program every year.

"Most of them will end up working in the field or going to school in the field," she said. "For a student to get an opportunity in high school to see what their future could look like is very important because it could change their trajectory overall."

The mistreatment is "an integral part of the company's poultry production strategy and its business model," the lawsuit, filed by two shareholders, says.

Elon Musk was sued for $258 billion on Thursday by a Dogecoin investor who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency. In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, plaintiff Keith Johnson accused Musk, electric car company Tesla Inc and space tourism company SpaceX of racketeering for touting Dogecoin and driving up its price, only to then let the price tumble.

The Shell gas station manager mistakenly moved a decimal, setting prices at 69 cents per gallon instead of $6.99. Gas hasn't been that cheap since 1978.

Champlain College Director of Financial Literacy John Pelletier discusses whether we're officially in a bear market and what to do about it.

In fact, I know a lot of people -- myself included -- who enjoy their fair share of passive income thanks to the way they've set up their investment portfolios. Now you may be thinking, "Wait a minute -- how on Earth is buying real estate a means of generating passive income?" And I hear you. A lot of real estate investors earn money by flipping houses or maintaining rental properties.

CEO Robert Isom's message comes shortly after pilots at two wholly American Airlines owned regional carriers received a groundbreaking pay rise.

NuStar Energy and USAA ranked No. 12 and No. 15, respectively — are the only two San Antonio-headquartered companies to make the list.

How to negotiate a higher salary as a candidate, and how recruiters should handle salary expectations, are part of a growing debate.

Thousands of layoffs in the tech sector, compounded by hiring freezes and a slowdown in hiring, highlight the abrupt shift in fortunes over the past several months as a result of rampant inflation, fear of stagflation and recession, supply-chain interruptions, the war in Ukraine, an ailing stock market and other red-alert economic factors.

Thursday's announcement is the third time the world's largest automaker by sales has adjusted its June production plans, which are down about 12% from its original plan. This time, it cited staffing disruptions at a supplier due to an outbreak of COVID-19 and a production equipment defect at another supplier.

Former employees of the two GameStop stores in Lincoln, Neb., claim the video game retailer has a history of overworking staff and setting unachievable performance targets.

Here’s a good bit of news for retirees in 2022: you can keep more money in your tax-deferred retirement accounts.

Gasoline prices remain above an average of $5/gallon nationally, according to AAA data, and energy experts still do not see any relief in sight.

Unilever Plc was sued on Wednesday by a U.S. shareholder who said the company mishandled the decision by its Ben & Jerry's unit to stop selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. According to the proposed class action in Manhattan federal court, Unilever improperly concealed the decision before it was announced, recognizing that many U.S. states might divest from companies that support anti-Israel boycotts, yet stood behind it once the news became public. Ben & Jerry's announced last July it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem, and sever its three-decade relationship with an Israeli ice cream maker that rejected the ban.

Wireless carrier T-Mobile announced new perks for customers, including deeper gas discounts and free connectivity and streaming on flights.

Joe Biden complained in his letter to companies including Exxon Mobil and Shell they are cutting back gas production purely to boost profits.

CEO Jesse Powell unveiled Kraken's "Jet Ski Program," which incentivizes exits from people who aren't down for the cause, the New York Times reported.

Domestic oil production has finally reached the 12 million bpd level.

Volkswagen's Audi has filed a lawsuit in a Munich court against Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio over an alleged infringement of Audi's trademark rights, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday. According to Audi, Nio's decision to name two of its models ES6 and infringes Audi's trademark for its own model designations S6 and S8, Handelsblatt reported.

Sixty percent of workers worldwide are emotionally detached at their jobs, and 19% are plain miserable, says Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report.