August 29, 2002

Average North Dakota Business Added Employees

Businesses continue to get larger in North Dakota, according to the recent Economic Brief released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University.

For the past 10 years, the number of business establishments in the state has risen less than 1 percent per year on average while the number of employees for these businesses has risen nearly 3.0 percent per year on average. Put another way: in 1990 there were 10.4 employees per business compared with 12.7 in 2000. The number of very large establishments, those that employ more than 1,000 employees, doubled since 1990, jumping from four to eight.  Similarly, the number of establishments that employ between 250 and 1,000 employees increased from 54 in 1990 to 82 in 2000.

The number of businesses in North Dakota declined 1.2 percent between 1999 and 2000, from 20,380 establishments to 20,139. The number of employees in North Dakota businesses increased from 250,292 in 1999 to 255,178 in 2000, an increase of 4,886 employees or 2 percent. Annual payroll for businesses in North Dakota rose from $5.8 billion in 1999 to $6.1 billion in 2000, an increase of $268 million or 4.6 percent.

 “An interesting contradiction exists when interpreting employment data for North Dakota,” said Richard Rathge, Director of the State Data Center. “Between 1999 and 2000, we added nearly 4,900 employees; however, population estimates suggest that we lost nearly 2,000 residents during the same time period.  Since survey data from North Dakota Job Services suggests that the number and proportion of part-time employees is down, we should conclude that the contradiction is due to existing residents such as youth newly entering the labor force, residents such as retirees re-entering the labor force, or more people holding multiple jobs.

In 2000, service and retail trade establishments comprised nearly 60 percent of all businesses in North Dakota and 62 percent of all employees.

Utah, Colorado, and Nevada reported the largest percentage gains in businesses between 1999 and 2000 (2.9 percent, 2.8 percent, and 2.7 percent).  Eleven states reported losses in businesses between 1999 and 2000, with North Dakota reporting the largest percentage loss in the nation.

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

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