September 2018

As part of my construction of a population projection for North Dakota my reading and data analysis focused significantly on demographic data and trends in North Dakota. One of my concerns with trends in North Dakota is that with a low population base even moderate flows will lead to rate changes and possible adjustments in trends. The other issue for North Dakota is that the proximity to a larger neighbor in Minnesota can somewhat complicate the analysis. For example, this graph. 

Continue reading Migration in and out of North Dakota
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It has been a busy week for sure with Homecoming and the Potato Bowl parade here at the University of North Dakota. The Department of Economics & Finance also hosted two presentations by Robert Hall of Stanford, one of a research paper for the faculty and graduate students, and one to the University community at large. Along with that I wrapped up a proposal for a paper presentation at the Population Association of American meetings in 2019 on the oil boom in North Dakota and county level fertility rates. So really busy. 

Continue reading Busy Week & Switching to Gutenberg
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Numerous callers over the past few weeks mentioned that age increases are not really keeping pace with inflation. This is something mentioned significantly at the national level too. As a result I used the CPI to adjust the wage data from the post last (found here) week about wage comparisons to get a sense of the curve shapes after the adjustment. I put them all in terms of 200Q4 level. The adjustment is the same for the different regions so there is not added value in the comparison of the different regions really, it is more the comparison of the nominal and real values.

Continue reading ND wage comparisons adjusted for inflation

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The radio audience really responded to the topics of income and wages the last few weeks. Along with the population posts (which I confess I find more interesting) I include another look at wages. I grabbed the data for goods producing and service providing jobs in three North Dakota counties: Cass, Grand Forks, and Williams. Nothing necessarily scientific about the county selection, just three that I know and that will likely give us something to ponder. 

Continue reading Some North Dakota Wage Comparisons

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