Thread: North Dakota Battles to Fill Jobs

North Dakota Battles to Fill Jobs

Updated: Friday, 25 Feb 2011, 7:32 PM MST
Published : Friday, 25 Feb 2011, 7:32 PM MST

(Wall Street Journal) - North Dakota boasted a 3.9 percent average unemployment rate in 2010, the US Labor Department said Friday, the third consecutive year the state has notched the lowest rate in the nation, or tied for it.

After such bulletins, North Dakota staffing agencies often are flooded with calls from out-of-staters looking to work there. Yet, few of those conversations translate into hires.

As the US struggles with 9 percent unemployment, many companies in North Dakota are struggling to find workers and recast a reputation that some local officials blame on cold weather and a bad image stemming from "Fargo," an Oscar winner with the tagline: "A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere." Most of the 1996 movie actually was set in Minnesota, locals are quick to point out.

"It's not easy finding a candidate from the coasts who wants to move here," says David Dietz, vice president of Fargo staffing firm Preference Personnel Inc., which is trying to fill more than 80 positions. Three years ago a technology-sales vacancy -- a typical Preference assignment to fill -- would have had a maximum base salary of about $50,000; now that position will top out at $65,000, Dietz said.

Recruiting workers is a perennial struggle for the remote state. The low unemployment rate attracts lots of attention, but it is hard to convince many out-of-state residents to move there.

Most acutely needed: doctors, nurses and other health care workers, as well as salespeople, from retail clerks to insurance agents. The western part of North Dakota, in the midst of an oil boom, is desperate for welders and engineers. Even truck drivers, who posted nearly 11 percent unemployment in 2010 nationally, are hard to find.

This year the state commerce department is hitting the road to find workers, scheduling job fairs in cities that tend to attract former Dakotans, starting with Minneapolis in May. The state expects between 40 and 50 employers and community organizations to attend and hopes to hold another fair in the fall.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/news/n ... c_12060488

The reason we are seeing these types of articles now mentioning vacant jobs and great salaries is that the powers that be are preparing for another push to increase the yearly H-1B cap. There are several types of articles that predictably appear when such an effort is afoot, as has happened several times in the recent past.

For anyone who is unemployed N.D. sounds like a place with a lot of jobs available right now,

if you can handle the winters.

I know whast it sounds like, but for the last 10 years my activist buddies have been watching these stories come and go. There's a definite pattern, and a push to increase foreign worker visas is definitely underway in Washington.

It says they're looking for workers in cities in other STATES.

This year the state commerce department is hitting the road to find workers, scheduling job fairs in cities that tend to attract former Dakotans, starting with Minneapolis in May. The state expects between 40 and 50 employers and community organizations to attend and hopes to hold another fair in the fall.

I've never heard of anyone looking for salespeople, retail clerks or insurance agents overseas.

Recruiting workers is a perennial struggle for the remote state. The low unemployment rate attracts lots of attention, but it is hard to convince many out-of-state residents to move there.

Most acutely needed: doctors, nurses and other health care workers, as well as salespeople, from retail clerks to insurance agents. The western part of North Dakota, in the midst of an oil boom, is desperate for welders and engineers. Even truck drivers, who posted nearly 11 percent unemployment in 2010 nationally, are hard to find.

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