SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Senators Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Minneapolis) pointed to a newly-released report showing that Operation Metro Surge cost Minneapolis and the rest of Minnesota thousands of restaurant and hospitality jobs and tens of millions of dollars in lost wages, saying it is one more indication that his push to provide economic relief to devastated businesses and workers is still needed.
Senator Champion was chief author of a Senate-passed $100 million relief package to help business owners across Minnesota who suffered devastating financial and job losses during Operation Metro Surge. During the final hours of the legislative session in May, however, House Republicans demanded changes to the highly successful and popular Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program before they would even consider relief for hard-hit Minnesota businesses. Their demands killed a compromise business relief package.
“This new report reiterates that businesses and workers across Minnesota were devastated by Operation Metro Surge earlier his year, with an estimated 4,600 jobs and $71 million in wages lost,” said Senator Champion. “The economic recovery package that passed the Senate would have gone a long way to help businesses that are still reeling from the federal occupation of our state. Unfortunately, my push to help them was killed by House Republicans in the final hours of the legislative session. Our work is not done, and I will continue to look for ways to help businesses still recovering from Metro Surge.”
PFML has already helped thousands of Minnesota families recover from illness or injury, care for a new baby or a loved one since it began earlier this year.
The report on Metro Surge, released this week by North Star Policy Action, found that in the first three months of 2026, Operation Metro surge caused Minnesota’s leisure and hospitality sector:
- To lose approximately 4,600 jobs.
- To lose 3% of weekly hours among employees who kept their jobs, leading to 6 million hours of lost work in the sector.
- Together, these jobs and hours effects translate into 8 million total working hours lost in the industry.
- Applied to industry averages, this implies that $71 million in wages were lostin Minnesota’s leisure and hospitality sector across January, February, and March of 2026.
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