The Dickinson Press reports that “North Dakota’s thriving oil and gas industry accounts for nearly one in seven private-sector jobs covered by unemployment insurance, according to data that could have a big impact on how tax revenue flows to oil-impacted cities, counties and school districts.”  

“A Job Service North Dakota report released Wednesday found that of the state’s 359,415 private-sector jobs covered by unemployment last year, 55,137 jobs, or 15.3 percent, were either directly involved in or related to oil and gas development.”  

“Those jobs represented $5 billion of the total $17.5 billion in wages paid to workers counted in the report, which didn’t include most self-employed farmers but still encompassed more than 90 percent of the state’s private-sector employees, said Michael Ziesch, labor market information manager at Job Service North Dakota.”