Now for a look at what's making news on the Iron Range, here's Chris Buckley from Range 11.

With multiple large scale projects on the horizon, employers are expecting a boom in the local job market

And there was a good turnout for Tuesday's annual Iron Range Job Fair at Virginia's Thunderbird mall.

Featuring employers in both the public and private sectors.

Josh Rock from JobDig employment newspapers, a regional publication that publishes ads for local employers and articles about getting and keeping jobs, says there's a lot of opportunities in Northeastern Minnesota.

"The Iron Range is always a great place to be looking for a job, because there's a lot of ebb and flow, same with Duluth.
There's a lot of people retiring, and Duluth will become one of Minnesota's largest retirement communities in the coming years, and in Duluth and Hibbing, there's a lot of talent, but they're not matching up, so we're publishing this paper to help match them."

He asks job seekers five questions about the jobs and salaries they desire... how they plan to get there, and where they see themselves in five and ten years.

"You have to have goals if you're going to help a company get to their goals, why shouldn't you have goals yourself, and find ways to attain that?"

There's a current demand for engineering jobs both locally and statewide
And that demand should grow with the growing Iron Range economy.

"There's a current demand in the local area for about 50 engineers, and if additional projects do happen, there will be additional positions for engineers, like at Polymet, Minnesota Steel, Mesabi Nugget, and Minnesota power."

The growing need prompted a new program at Hibbing High School...
Nearly 50 students are participating in the new pre-engineering program.. to see if it's a career they'd like to pursue. It's something that could bring back local students after college.

"It appears demand won't go down. US Steel has said they'll need 12 engineers per year in this area for the next few years, if projects do occur, that need will be here for some time so it appears demand is just growing."

There's a new computer lab at the High School designed just for that engineering program.

For Range 11, I'm Chris Buckley