Right now, the job market in North Dakota is what every state wants: growing. With a booming oil patch creating jobs for people who live in North Dakota and from all over the country, South Dakota is worried their job market will suffer, reports Inforum.
South Dakota’s secretary of labor and regulation Pam Roberts said that the state will have to work a lot harder in order to keep a stable market and workforce. “North Dakota is keeping us on our toes,” she told the Argus Leader in Inforum. “It’s not an extreme move for someone to move from South Dakota to North Dakota.” With job seekers coming to North Dakota from all over the country, it might be difficult for South Dakota to maintain their workforce like they want. According to the article, workers are traveling from a job market stressed Michigan, and Texas and Oklahoma where there is an abundance of workers that are experienced in the oil industry. On top of that, workers from neighboring states are traveling for job opportunities in North Dakota as well which is expected.
South Dakota has already seen a rise in the amount of people that are commuting into North Dakota for jobs. The most recent data they have is from 2009 where close to 1,000 people were commuting. Two years later, the number has surely risen with the increase in oil activity, says research analyst Michael Ziesch. According to David Owen, president of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the commute of South Dakota workers to North Dakota has effected the western part of the state more than the eastern part. He doesn’t think that its a massive issue for South Dakota’s job market, but he does believe it is a concern. Even still, the state of South Dakota made it through the economic recession with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
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