Say Anything Blog

We pay our “Hispanic” workers with “Documentation"(maybe) $10-12 per hour in fast food in IL. So $9 is close. The problem with coming to ND to work is the depth of opprotunity.  If I were to come and take a position at $50,000 per year and that ended, where’s the one behind that one?  It’s the dearth of opprotunity not the wages that keeps people away in droves.  If my only option if I lose my $50,000/yr job is working at the C-Store for $9 an hour, that’s a thin line.  It makes my employer an accidental extortionist.  He knows this as well.  If I take a job anywhere for any substantial amount of money, I want to have the option and power to tell by boss, “Take this Job and Shove it” and not end up on welfare.  This is not well understood by ND economic development types.  ND needs depth and width in it’s employment opprotunities as well as $$.

[...] I think we’re right on the cusp of an economic boom in the state. Right now ND has plenty of jobs. What it needs are more workers. And really (given our past out-migration problems) this is a good spot to be in. More jobs at home means more people staying in ND to live and work. Rob | Homepage | 10.27.05 - 10:59 am | # [...]

The other problem is that wages getting this high tend to cause prices of goods and services to rise also.  I don’t think that $9.00 a hour jobs at McDonalds are going to keep the right kind of North Dakota’s youth within the state and stop the exodus.  I am from Billings (right next door), and left the state because the good jobs in good industries like IT or technology of any kind were scarce.

Billings is miles and miles of warehouses and distribution centers that all pay in the low 10’s per hour.  Lots of construction jobs too.  But you know what they pay a Senior Unix Administrator with 5+ years of experience?  I saw an opening in Helena for $40k per year, and that was one of the few openings I have seen any time lately.

Gene is right.  I could move back and take that $40k per year job, but if I got laid off, there is not a backup job or another company to move to.  So it is back to McDonalds for me.

The natural resources businesses like oil, gas, coal, gold, uranium, etc., are all making a comeback and most of these pay even higher wages.  The problem is a lack of good jobs, not a lack of McDonalds jobs that pay good wages.  But McDonalds paying $9 per hour is a start.  At least the poor folks and high school kids can afford their car, their gas, and their insurance.

For people to want to stay in ND there really needs to be condtinued economic development, revitalization and diversification.  Fargo has done well, but the rest of the state is truly lacking in these areas.  I left in ‘80 and never really looked back.  I think that many of us will always have fond feelings for ole Nodak, but it would take a significant amount of industry development in various areas outside of Fargo to make the state really become anything resembling a player.  The low population numbers dictating a scant labor pool as it is don’t really help attract industry to the state.  Overall low wages might be an attraction to outside businesses, but there’s so little to attract people to the state, either to move there or not to move out. Make no mistake, the high moral standards and ethics of your typical upper midwesterner are highly valued across the country by those who know of them.  On the other hand, unskilled labor is rarely worth paying over minimum wage to any business owner.  I sure would like to see ND overcome the mass exodus that has been taking place over the last decade or so.  Hopefully we are seeing the beginning of it. You know, I haven’t had lunch yet, some nice pan sautee’d walleye would go real good about now.

All I can tell you guys is what I’ve observed.  In the last few years we’ve had several businesses move in and create hundreds of jobs (though two left suddenly, one on bad terms).  Wages are relatively high (for the state) and people are building like crazy.

To me, these are all positive signs.

Point taken about the $9/hour fast food job, but still.  I think we’re on the cusp of some big things.

I also have an axe to grind with out-of-staters who sneer at $40,000/year jobs.  In a place like Minot or Bismarck, $40,000 goes a long way.  Much further than most other places in the country.  So when you compare wages, there are other factors to calculate as well.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

[...] The state has a $100 million dollar budget surplus, unemployment in the state’s largest cities is hovering under 2%, the state-wide unemployment rate is just over 3%, Hoeven’s approval rating is in the mid 70’s, (well below the national average), yet the Governor gets accused of lacking in leadership? [...]

[...] North Dakota’s economy is booming right now (though state Democrats don’t want you to know that), we just need some people to come here and work. [...]

[...] North Dakota needs workers. [...]

[...] Right now North Dakota’s economy is booming. Unemployment rates in the major cities are under 2% and businesses are crying out for workers. Statewide unemployment is hovering around 3%, yet we’re supposed to believe that unemployment on reservations is 63% because the government isn’t doing enough to create opportunities for the Indians? [...]

[...] North Dakota needs Workers(via Say Anything) [...]

The employment market in Oregon has always been crappy.  I’d consider moving to Bismarck or Fargo but the thought of having to live in a cold-weather city is completely unappealing.

It isn’t that bad, but then I’ve lived in cold weather places my whole life.  I like the cold.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs: