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My initial exploratory questions
really made me wonder. I started out
thinking of my job and why they were cutting my hours, unemployment, why am I
having trouble finding another full-time job, would I be stuck doing part-time
work and never finishing school? Then it
led me to my main topic: Why does North Dakota have the lowest unemployment
rate in the nation?
Seriously, why ND? Why not another state? Why not Colorado? I have friends there, so I have a little bit
of an understanding of the culture. I
also have to confess I was actually born there, but other than for this
assignment I would not admit that.
Because I don’t want to admit I was born there, I understand that might
lead me to judge ND. I recognize writing
should be more about questions and answers than judging and I will try to not
let it affect my inquiry or writing. I
have to admit because I was born there and know a little about ND, it easily
led me to come up with more questions on the topic. Why should ND have the lowest unemployment
rate? Is it because of their job
sectors? What are the job sectors? What is a job sector? Is there something in the water or ground
(oil)? Does the government know how to
spend or not spend money correctly?
I really could go on for 100-200
more words of just questions on the subject, but I know I have to make more
blog posts so I will try and refrain from using them all up in the first
post. I am hoping to find more answers
from the ND.gov website, other government websites, interviewing friends that
live there, Newspapers articles, magazine articles, the Bureau of labor and
statistics and maybe even using memories I have from being there.
This topic matters to me because I
am hoping I will learn where to find answers about unemployment and where the
jobs are. I can use the research from ND
on CO or any other state I might want to move to in the future. I was also offered a job from a friend in ND,
but he used words like “permanent” and “guaranteed 40 hours”, which really made
me wonder: How can he use such words and why DOES ND have such a low
unemployment rate?
I think the fact that you were born in ND makes this inquiry even more relevant. Could the ND unemployment rate be low because so many people (you included) don't want to live there?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, Colorado has a lot to offer and this leads many people to move here-- perhaps more people than available jobs?
Whatever you do find is relevant for all of us not in ND because maybe that state offers models that others can adopt? How could CO be more like ND when it comes to jobs and employment? How much can a state control through its government policies? Hmmmm... you've got me thinking.
Great picture!
You know that stereotypical way people view the midwest? They are hard workers and they have "sticktoitivness"! Maybe that has something to do with it. There are people who work hard and stick with their job and their career. They don't just jump ship on a job the second that they find something that they don't like. North Dakota isn't a glamorous destination. People are not flocking to live their. Maybe the fact that so many people will go to the "big cities" and popular places to live (L.A., New York, Florida, Austin, Nashville, and even little old Denver. These cities/states have terrible unemployment rates. People are trying to make it big and make lots of money, but the jobs are not always there. I may just be going off on a thought of my own, but maybe it will help spark an idea to help continue your blog on ND. Good luck with it. I look forward to hearing more about it.
ReplyDeleteEMTmamma,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that people in ND ARE hard workers. I lived in CO most of my life, but ended up back in ND for the very last year of high school. I got my first job and stuck with it for 2 1/2 years. I learned a lot about how hard working people are in ND.
I was going to interview some old friends and family to see how long they stayed at their jobs, if they changed job fields and how many jobs they had. I can't wait to see the answers. Thanks for your input. :)
-Linette
If I had to guess why North Dakota had the lowest or one of the lowest unemployment rates it's probably because the population is fairly small compared to other states and there really are not any high tech jobs or high paying jobs that that would have been effected by the fall of the economy back in 2008.
ReplyDeletePlus it's really cold there in the winter and I am not sure many people would want to live in very cold state. I know I would not want to.
Otherwise, I like the ideas you have generated for doing your research. I do wonder if the numbers you recieve from the federal government would be as accurate as the recieving numbers from the state government. Good luck!
Amparo
Amparo,
ReplyDeleteI definitely am wondering if low population has anything to do with the low unemployment. The biggest city is Fargo, ND which really isn't that much bigger than Longmont, CO. Fargo 2010 census shows a population of 105,549, while Longmont 2010 census confirms a population of 86,270. Crazy that ND can have low unemployment with such small cities.
-Linette
Yeah, you would think the places with a smaller population would have better unemployment rates..
ReplyDeletePerhaps there are not as many corporations/larger businesses based out there? That combined with good job securtity for those who have jobs might also contribute to the low employment? That would be cool to see the results if you interview your friends, maybe it will give us some insight.
I found it rather funny that Fargo,ND has the second largest campus (after Silicon Valley) for Microsoft. There aren't a lot of corporate headquarters compared to Colorado, but there are some surprising business that call ND home.
ReplyDelete-Linette