The week of October 13th Heath Prince, Greg Cumpton and Amna Khan traveled to four community colleges in North Dakota to discuss data collection context and procedures for Project (Training for Regional Energy in North Dakota) TREND. This project funds development of structured training and supports at colleges for students interested in obtaining skills and knowledge related to high-demand and high-wage jobs. North Dakota is in the midst of a booming economy due to vast oil reserves in the Bakken formation with some areas experiencing unemployment rates as low as 1%; the high demand jobs generally service the local oil industry and include oil drill workers and managers, oil processing workers and truck drivers. The demand for these jobs is so high that many companies currently import workers from outside the state; with very high costs for housing and limited land available for new construction, some of these imported workers live in ‘man-camps,’ minimally-constructed and grouped homes.
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