Job Service ND reports 2.5% unemployment, expanding H-2A placements and a work‑readiness program for justice‑involved residents

Phil Davis, Workforce Service Director at Job Service North Dakota, briefed the Leadership Division on labor-market trends and agency programs, saying North Dakota’s unemployment rate is approximately 2.5% with a labor force of about 432,600 and strong labor-force participation.

Davis highlighted the H-2A program that places temporary agricultural workers: Job Service placed nearly 5,000 H-2A workers in 2025 and staff drove roughly 110,000 miles conducting housing inspections. He said the H-2A program continues to grow about 25% annually and that inspection capacity — though increased by three FTEs over recent sessions — remains a constraint that sometimes delays processing.

He also described the Job Placement Partnership (JP3) with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which has been allocated about $640,000 for services in Fargo and Bismarck. Davis said participants who completed the six‑week readiness class were re‑incarcerated at about 12% compared with typical recidivism rates around 40%, and that participants who complete the program tend to earn an average of about $20,000 more annually.

Davis walked through in‑demand occupation lists, dashboards (ndlmi.com) and workforce center activity. Members pressed on whether job‑order counts accurately reflect openings; Davis said Job Service reports openings present in its system and that one posted opening can sometimes represent more than one vacancy for employers that upload a single order.

Next steps: Job Service said it can provide more localized or program-level data on request and is interested in expanding programs like JP3 if funding allows.