Economy Booming In At Least One State

Photo credit: North Dakota Office of Tourism

Tired of looking for a job, only to find no one is hiring? Maybe you're looking in the wrong state.

If you are willing and able to pack up and move, you might find better luck in North Dakota. That's right, North Dakota, where the unemployment rate is only 3.2 percent.

Much of this improvement in economic fortunes has occurred over the last 12 months. The North Dakota Employment Office has a list of more than 15,000 job openings. That's up 64 percent from the same time in 2010.

Black gold

What's responsible for the state's sudden burst of economic activity? Oil. It turns out there is lots of it in the western part of the state, which is part of the Bakken shale region. The soil and rock contain millions of barrels of oil, and high prices for oil and new extraction technology now make it profitable.

Since North Dakota has such a small population – fewer than 700,000 people live within its borders – it needs to import workers. The oil industry work force has risen from fewer than 5,000 people in 2005 to more than 35,000 today, with many jobs still open.

With oil pumping so much money into the economy, other sectors of the economy are growing as well, and competing for employees. Fast food restaurants and convenience stores are offering incentives, and starting pay close to $12 a hour for entry level employees.

Profitable agriculture

At the same time oil is lubricating the economy, the state's other economic pillar – agriculture – is also booming. Commodity prices are up and world-wide demand for food shows no sign of letting up.

A few decades ago U.S. workers migrated from northern manufacturing cities to the Sunbelt, to take new jobs as plants closed and moved offshore. Some economists think the same trend could take place in North Dakota.

North Dakota is hardly the Sunbelt. Winters can be long and cold and the summers can be hot. Spring – as this year – can be marked by flooding.

But it can also be a healthy place to live. In 2009 the American Lung Association declared North Dakota's largest city, Fargo, the cleanest city in the U.S., based on air quality.