Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · ND NONMETROPOLITAN AREA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
This Month's Takeaways
38 of 53 counties report worker shortages; healthcare needs 3,700 workers
North Dakota Governor's Workforce Summit — State workforce summit findings, Sept. 23, 2026
Local Economic Conditions
North Dakota unemployment at 2.1%, participation at 69.2%
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — State labor force statistics, September 2026
Zero net nonfarm job growth over 12 months through July 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — State and area employment data
Looking Ahead
New state workforce department proposed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong
Office of the Governor, North Dakota — State policy announcement
North Dakota WARN notices: Accelerate360, Transdev, Hess among largest
LayoffAlert.org — WARN Act notice tracking, year-to-date 2026
National wage growth of 3.0% trails inflation at 3.4%
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison