Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello to everybody =) I'm kind of new to this forum thing, but I was wondering if the perception on ND is true. I have been contemplating a move with my wife, as we are both graduating soon (MBA & BA Education), and I particularly would like a move towards a less busy area than in New England. I've been looking at houses online with monthly payments of $400-600 that look like they are decent and livable. Does that translate into what reality offers? And, I have been looking online for jobs in the Fargo area, but other than Microsoft, I haven't found much in the way of corporations to hire, which seems to be different than the media outlets that promote the state as unable to fill white-collar jobs. Is that a misperception, or am I looking in the wrong places? Thank you for any help that you can offer!
Hello to everybody =) I'm kind of new to this forum thing, but I was wondering if the perception on ND is true. I have been contemplating a move with my wife, as we are both graduating soon (MBA & BA Education), and I particularly would like a move towards a less busy area than in New England. I've been looking at houses online with monthly payments of $400-600 that look like they are decent and livable. Does that translate into what reality offers? And, I have been looking online for jobs in the Fargo area, but other than Microsoft, I haven't found much in the way of corporations to hire, which seems to be different than the media outlets that promote the state as unable to fill white-collar jobs. Is that a misperception, or am I looking in the wrong places? Thank you for any help that you can offer!
~Chuck
I would stay in the New England area since this area is booming economically if not more than North Dakota. Some PR person from the ND chamber of commerce must have paid off someone at CNN because they have totally overhyped North Dakota
You will still have difficulty finding great jobs here with an MBA and a BA in education. There has been a lot of downsizing here and rehiring at lower wages, so there is stiff competition for lots of jobs. While the unemployment is low, there is still underemployment for many people. There are many openings for teachers in smaller communities, but ND is not a high paying teacher state. Now if you had advanced training in technical skills, there is a huge demand for those everywhere in ND.
CNN is not over-hyping....as all stories have been about western ND and the oil fields.
In the valley (Fargo - GF) there are jobs to be had but yes many are not the high wage jobs with no experience that are out in the oil fields. Many of the corporate jobs are in the twin cities...with a much lesser presence of these jobs in Fargo. But there are some...as you mentioned Microsoft.
Overall the hottest jobs in the east continue to be healthcare (always looking for qualified nurses, CNA's), with a good demand still for skilled labor such as air conditioning/heating repair, plumbers, etc. Many of the jobs avbl are in food and related service industry and that typically has quite low pay in North Dakota. I live along the MN/ND border....and ND is a right to work state and MN is not and is required to pay at least minimum range in the food service industry. ND is not. I was at a restaurant locally in East Grand Forks MN and the server is paid 9/hr plus tips...same job in Grand Forks ND would earn 5-6/hr. Of course MN has higher income taxes.
Last edited by Kamsack; 10-26-2011 at 03:17 PM..
Reason: correct wording
Hello to everybody =) I'm kind of new to this forum thing, but I was wondering if the perception on ND is true. I have been contemplating a move with my wife, as we are both graduating soon (MBA & BA Education), and I particularly would like a move towards a less busy area than in New England. I've been looking at houses online with monthly payments of $400-600 that look like they are decent and livable. Does that translate into what reality offers? And, I have been looking online for jobs in the Fargo area, but other than Microsoft, I haven't found much in the way of corporations to hire, which seems to be different than the media outlets that promote the state as unable to fill white-collar jobs. Is that a misperception, or am I looking in the wrong places? Thank you for any help that you can offer!
In terms of filling white collar jobs--there a certain specialties that are hard to fill. Various types of engineers, definitely software engineers, some medical specialties, and allied health professions (sonographers, etc.) can have vacancies.
General business & teaching--unfortunately not. Fargo-Moorhead has three universities/colleges that produce grads with business & teaching degrees. In the Fargo school system specifically, it's not what you know, its' who you know that will get you hired.
And, I have been looking online for jobs in the Fargo area, but other than Microsoft, I haven't found much in the way of corporations to hire, which seems to be different than the media outlets that promote the state as unable to fill white-collar jobs. Is that a misperception, or am I looking in the wrong places?
Based on my experiences in this world, I've pretty much concluded that you can't trust the media to evaluate a job market; they often know nothing about it and only gain their information from the most optimistic people who are often very successful and disconnected from the actual job search. (How do I know this? Because I listen closely to what they say about fields that I have personal, direct knowledge of, and they almost always seem to miss the whole picture.)
If I had to guess, I would say that there's some white collar work in Fargo, but it doesn't have national bank headquarters and other Fortune 500 company headquarters like larger cities might have. The state itself is primarily a blue collar state.
The other thing to keep in mind is that for decades the media and pundits have been pushing the notion that everyone should go to college. Of course, everyone and their brother would like to work those glamorous clean white collar knowledge-based jobs. It turns out that North Dakota actually has a couple colleges--not a lot--but more than enough to keep the state supplied with college graduates. If you were to combine the student population of the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University, it would be like having one large Big Ten university (about 30,000 students). (The state's population is only about 675,000.)
Maybe someone else knows more about this, but don't many college graduates who grew up in the state end up leaving the state in search of job opportunities (flooding into the Twin Cities, perhaps)?
The other problem with the white collar job market is that people who seek white collar work tend to be ambitious and willing to make sacrifices, such as relocating to a cold state even if they don't know anyone there. Our nation also has a huge oversupply of college graduates with at least bachelors degrees, as much as 17 million who work (probably menial) jobs that don't require a 4 year college education. Consequently, IMHO, white collar job markets are less local and more national. In other words, an unemployed person in Ohio might be eying those white collar jobs, too after hearing all the hype about North Dakota.
I recommend looking at North Dakota job boards and putting some feelers out there to get your own opinion. Maybe I'm wrong. Different areas of specialty will also have different markets.
Last edited by Bhaalspawn; 10-27-2011 at 01:31 AM..
You will still have difficulty finding great jobs here with an MBA and a BA in education. There has been a lot of downsizing here and rehiring at lower wages, so there is stiff competition for lots of jobs. While the unemployment is low, there is still underemployment for many people.
What most Americans don't realize is that it's possible to have low unemployment but with the people being employed in low-paying jobs. The real issue that the unemployment stats never tell us about is the issue of quality of employment--what are people's wages. I wish they would report the percentages of workers in various income brackets.
For example, when you judge the health of the U.S. economy, it's not sufficient to merely look at the U6 unemployment rate. According to a blog post elsewhere, our nation has lost 10% of its middle income jobs over the past decade, and between 1980 and today the percentage of Americans working in low-wage jobs increased from 30% to 40%.
What most Americans don't realize is that it's possible to have low unemployment but with the people being employed in low-paying jobs. The real issue that the unemployment stats never tell us about is the issue of quality of employment--what are people's wages. I wish they would report the percentages of workers in various income brackets.
Well, the US census reports show income divided into dollar levels, and also by household, family, sex, race, pretty much whatever you fancy.
Here's the numbers for households: (2010, Fargo-Moorhead, ND-MN)
Less than $10,000 5,670 6.6%
$10,000 to $14,999 4,907 5.7%
$15,000 to $24,999 10,084 11.7%
$25,000 to $34,999 9,602 11.1%
$35,000 to $49,999 12,852 14.9%
$50,000 to $74,999 16,764 19.4%
$75,000 to $99,999 12,016 13.9%
$100,000 to $149,999 9,855 11.4%
$150,000 to $199,999 2,436 2.8%
$200,000 or more 2,187 2.5%
Median household income (dollars) 50,088
Mean household income (dollars) 64,206
Another breakdown:
Population 16 years and over with earnings 135,799
Median earnings (dollars) 27,359
Full-time, year-round workers with earnings 81,243
$1 to $9,999 or loss 1.8%
$10,000 to $14,999 3.4%
$15,000 to $24,999 15.4%
$25,000 to $34,999 20.5%
$35,000 to $49,999 25.8%
$50,000 to $64,999 16.0%
$65,000 to $74,999 4.5%
$75,000 to $99,999 7.1%
$100,000 or more 5.6%
Median earnings (dollars)
Mean earnings (dollars) 47,367
MEDIAN EARNINGS BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Population 25 years and over with earnings 35,397
Less than high school graduate 19,200
High school graduate (includes equivalency) 27,159
Some college or associate's degree 31,172
Bachelor's degree 41,048
Graduate or professional degree 56,837
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
