Rather than simply looking at conventional measures like the unemployment rate in North Dakota, I thought it time to look at other measures to forecast, such an initial unemployment claims. There are some manipulating needed to the series but here is a look at the raw data.

There clearly is a degree of seasonality and some other cyclical issues to tackle, though by and large the series is fairly stable and pretty low in terms of the level and the rate for unemployment claims.

One of the more interesting aspects of this series is that there is some clear correlation with large sector growth such as energy, but it does not create lasting changes. It only changes the relative levels for the peaks, and even the troughs remain largely the same.