Oil Made Working-Class North Dakota a Lot Richer (Minot: 2013, college)

[fourwinds]

How Oil Made Working-Class North Dakota a Whole Lot Richer - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic


"Total wages more than doubled from $2.6 billion to $5.4 billion. Average pay jumped by more than half, from $33,040 to $50,553.

Blue-collar men suddenly finding high-paying work in the fields is a big part of the story. But jobs and paychecks have surged across industries. Some of the fastest growth has been in professional and technical services, a category dominated by college educated workers."

[djudd]

Do you have some examples for some of those professional and technical industries that are experiencing growth in the area? I am a recent college graduate with a bachelor of science degree in geography and geographic information systems. I am considering a move to the area with the hopes of finding a job. I have a sister living near Minot and I know the housing is scarce in the oil field regions. I'd like to know if my skill set is one that is being sought after at the moment. Ideally, I am looking for work that requires a degree, but would take almost anything. Thanks.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by fourwinds

Oil Made Working-Class North Dakota a Lot Richer
"Total wages more than doubled from $2.6 billion to $5.4 billion.

If the jobs were 1) only for native Dakotans and 2) gonna stick around for 50 years...
they would have a whole more merit to this.

[lisan23]

Originally Posted by MrRational

If the jobs were 1) only for native Dakotans and 2) gonna stick around for 50 years...
they would have a whole more merit to this.

Why would the jobs being only for native Dakotans lend any merit to this story at all? What exactly makes this story lack merit?