North Dakota is thinking about recovery and that is great. Here is where some parts of the economy are right now to help understand how far we need to recover.
North Dakota Economy Reset
Initial Unemployment Claims in ND
I am doing some forecasting for initial claims and thought I would introduce the data set. I think claims will likely be important indicator for the state economy.
Some North Dakota Wage Comparisons
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.
Grand Forks County Labor Shortage
So JT asked me about the existence of a labor shortage in Grand Forks. Essentially asking if there really is one or is it something we make up to explain some issue in local labor markets. Let’s first understand that this can change from time to time, month to month as it were. Let’s go to the data.
Employment Composition In Grand Forks
There are many ways to slice and dice employment and the change in employment in a community. How webs to do it, and whether the approach generates meaningful outcomes, is not always clear. We can look at particular sectors and attribute outsize importance to them and fear job loss is symptomatic of a declining employment base. It could also be the case the local labor market composition changed and the losses in one sector were the gain in another.