A few indications appear that employment may be trending up in Williston and the surrounding area. Also, the direction of people moving into and out of the state finally shifted to net out-migration in 2016.
12/18 – The Million Dollar Way – Job Shortage Looming in The Bakken – Pointer to following article describing an uptick in hiring for oil jobs in Williston. Biggest specific increase is for fracking crews, which need around 45 or 65 people for each crew.
MDW post also takes a swipe at the foolishness of so-called renewable energy. Can’t paraphrase; gotta’ quote:
Some entrepreneurs in the US are talking about a manned moon mission to Mars.
Meanwhile, the EU is burning wood pellets for energy.
12/18 – Williston Herald – Oil jobs on the rise / Labor crunch likely to get intense mid-2017 – Hiring for the oil patch is picking up. As oil prices have moved up a little bit in the last few months, activity has slowly increased.
Public comments in quarterly earnings calls from E&P companies show there will likely be 10 more rigs working by the end of the year. Another 10 rig would add a lot of positions, as will the fracking crews that need to follow up the drilling.
When we were visiting Williston over Thanksgiving, I didn’t notice any change from February 2016 or October 2015. On the other hand, there would have to be a drastic change to be noticeable to a casual observer. Will be curious to see how things seem on our next trip.
12/20 – Dickinson Press – ND population hits record, but growth fades as out-migration returned in 2016 – Population of the state hit a record 757,952 in 2016. The increase of 1,117 masks a net out-migration of 4,684.
Ironically, it took 2014 and 2015 to get to the point where more people left the state than arrived. I would have thought the net of people leaving versus arriving would have started in 2014.