North Dakota losing thousands in state tax revenues with unfilled jobs

WILLISTON, N.D.—The jobs bubble in North Dakota has grown much larger than has been reported, but no one is certain how much bigger it's getting to be.

Nor has the state done any particular studies on how much revenue it's losing from the thousands and thousands of positions that are going unfilled, and the activity that isn't occurring as a result.

Jobs in North Dakota tend to trend up and down with oil prices, of course. They can get quite large — like a price bubble — which means they can also suddenly disappear, when oil prices suffer a big downturn.

North Dakota Job Services has estimated that the state's current jobs bubble is 14,000 statewide — a brand new Jamestown, if all of the positions were filled.

Read more: http://www.inforum.com/news/government-and-politics/4451961-nd-losing-thousands-state-tax-revenues-unfilled-jobs