INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES -- "Williston, N.D., is booming. And it's all because of the oil. People are moving there en masse. It is probably the one place in the nation where there are not enough empty homes to meet the new residents' demands.
More than 6,000 job-seekers have packed their bags and headed to the small northern U.S. town with a normal population of just 3,000. Some of the newly arrived are currently homeless, since last year only 2,000 new housing units were built. This is not nearly enough to sustain the influx. Yet more come in droves each day.
Why wouldn't they? North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in U.S. at 3.5 percent and can tout the fact that workers' salaries have doubled and tripled recently. Individuals can make $15 an hour serving tacos (see photo above), $25 an hour waiting tables and $80,000 a year driving truck.
Oil is the reason behind this small town turned boomtown. Williston is just one of multiple towns surrounded by the oil-rich Bakken formation. This 200,000-square mile rock unit could hold anywhere between 4 billion and 24 billion barrels of oil.
Oil workers can make upwards of $100,000 a year, including overtime and bonuses. As the oilfields offer more lucrative salaries, other local businesses are raising their pay to compete. "There's not a business you can start in North Dakota right now that wouldn't make it," said Nathan Pittman, who works for a trucking company in the state."
MP: The rising tide of oil wages is lifting all wages in North Dakota.
As Peak Trader comments, the OWS protesters should move to Williston and work hard, so they can pay their fair share of taxes! It is a bit ironic that at the same time that the OWS crowd is protesting about a lack of jobs and economic opportunity in the U.S., there's a labor shortage in western North Dakota, and "there's not a business you can start in North Dakota right now that wouldn't make it." In other words, if the OWS protestors are ambitious and hard-working, they can easily find work in Williston, or start a business there and it's almost guaranteed to succeed!!
As Peak Trader comments, the OWS protesters should move to Williston and work hard, so they can pay their fair share of taxes! It is a bit ironic that at the same time that the OWS crowd is protesting about a lack of jobs and economic opportunity in the U.S., there's a labor shortage in western North Dakota, and "there's not a business you can start in North Dakota right now that wouldn't make it." In other words, if the OWS protestors are ambitious and hard-working, they can easily find work in Williston, or start a business there and it's almost guaranteed to succeed!!
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