Here's a statistic that might surprise many North Dakotans: Oil represents just 25 percent of the state's revenues. It certainly is an important 25 percent, but the other 75 percent is vital to North Dakota's sustainable economic health.
Most recent figures from the governor's office and the Department of Commerce are eye-openers. Non-Oil Patch jobs and business activity continue to expand at a rate that is the envy of nearly every other state in the nation. Overall growth -- oil and all other sectors -- has been running at a startling 7 percent -- more than twice the growth rate of the nation's gross domestic product.
Here's a sampling from a longer list of indicators outside of oil country of North Dakota's economic growth:
* Microsoft's Fargo campus has expanded and employs 1,500 direct workers, vendors and contingent staff.
* Amazon in Grand Forks added a 30,000-square-foot building and will add 200 full-time jobs plus additional seasonal jobs.
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* Caterpillar in West Fargo has begun a $50 million project that will generate 250 new jobs in the next three years, doubling the company's workforce.
* Phoenix International in Fargo just began work on a $22 million expansion that will house a greatly expanded workforce.
* Harris Manufacturing in Oakes plans an expansion.
* WCCO Belting in Wahpeton plans to grow.
* The Monsanto and Cargill facilities in the Fargo area are either in the process or have completed expansions worth millions of dollars and additional job opportunities.
There are more, of course, as reflected in the fact that the state counts 16,000 job openings, with fully two-thirds outside oil-producing counties. In only 10 years, the state has added nearly 50,000 new jobs (most outside the Oil Patch) while the nation has lost jobs.
No one should discount the state's burgeoning energy sector, in particular the incredible promise of the Bakken play. If projections are only half right, oil production and all its spinoffs will be major components of North Dakota's economy for decades. That being said, the thus far uncalculated costs of accelerating oil development -- roads, law enforcement, housing, social services, environmental damage, etc. -- eventually must be figured into the equation.
Meanwhile, farming and agribusiness, education and research, health care, high tech, transportation and manufacturing -- to name a few -- will remain essential and reliable components of the larger segment of North Dakota's diversified, flexible and entrepreneurial economy.
