Civil Municipal - May 2024

super, super strong. And so we’ve ultimately come out of the pandemic in a better financial position than when we went into it. I don’t know that anyone else can say that.” North Dakota is now on pace to become the highest GDP per capita state in the nation by the end of 2024, estimates Teigen. The pandemic, as well as the Russia-Ukraine War, dramatically accelerated the state’s economic growth.There’s been unprecedented investment in North Dakota’s industries. Before COVID, there were about $2 billion worth of projects looking to relocate to the state. Today, Teigen estimates up to $70 billion worth of investments are looking to hit the ground in North Dakota. That said, there are still some challenges to address. North Dakota is a highly rural state,so after a big event as the COVID pandemic hit, it has understandably taken a while for some of the workplace mechanisms to recover. Residents are still very sprawled, and Teigen hopes to clear that up shortly. OPTIMIZING WORKFORCE North Dakota has the highest labor participation rate in the nation, says Teigen. With a population of around 788,000 people, there are roughly 40,000 open jobs. “If every high school graduate in the state graduated, took a job, and didn’t go on to higher education, if everyone already in higher ed graduated, came out and took a job in the state, if everyone came off of unemployment and every person coming out of the correction system came out and took a job, we’d still have 20,000 open jobs in the state,” says Teigen. But as a low-population state, North Dakota must attract newresidents as this economicwave continues. Under Teigen’s watch, the state has established a widespread marketing campaign geared toward showing future residents the unknown prestige North Dakota has to offer. There’s now an online portal that matches people who are interested in moving to the state with job providers, community champions, and resources to facilitate that transition. “We can tap in and say, ‘Hey, there are a lot of great jobs here.’ There’s a great quality of life. Here are 22 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 05