June 25, 2002

Service Industry Claims Growing Share of North Dakota Economy

North Dakota’s gross state product totaled $18.3 billion in 2000, a 0.2 percent share of the U.S. total, according to the recent Economic Brief released by the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University. North Dakota’s share is one of the lowest in the nation. The contributions of California, New York, and Texas comprised nearly 30 percent of the U.S. total, 13.5 percent, 8.0 percent, and 7.5 percent of the U.S. total gross state product respectively.

The service industry accounted for the largest share of North Dakota’s gross state product in 2000. "The growth in this sector has been significant and now represents nearly one-fifth (19.2 percent) of the state’s total production income. One must keep in mind that the service sector accounted for only 15.5 percent of the state’s gross state product in 1990. In contrast, agriculture represented nearly 11 percent of gross state product in 1990 while today it is slightly more than 5 percent," said Richard Rathge, Director of the State Data Center.

Amusement/recreation services and business services are the real growth sectors in the service industry. Output among these services more than tripled between 1990 and 2000; amusement and recreation services grew to $120 million and business services to $533 million. The finance/real estate sector followed services, accounting for 15.6 percent of North Dakota gross state product in 2000. Government was third at 14.4 percent. The mining industry accounted for the smallest share of North Dakota’s gross state product in 1998 (3.8 percent).

Construction, while capturing only 5 percent of the North Dakota’s gross state product, showed the largest growth over the last decade, more than doubling in the last 10 years to reach $924 million.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, gross state product, often considered the state counterpart of the nation’s gross domestic product, is the value added in production by the labor and property located in the state.

###

Source: Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard_rathge@ndsu.nodak.edu 
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu 

Click here for a GIF version of this graphic. (36KB b&w text, map and graph)

Click here for a GIF version of this graphic. (53KB b&w text, map and graph)

Click here for a pdf version of both pages of this graphic. 
(331KB b&w text, map and table)