"These careers were selected based on the projected growth and replacement openings published in Job Service North Dakota's 2012-2022 Long-Term Employment Projections report."--Page 3.

The oil boom in western North Dakota is creating issues for governments and businesses trying to manage the growth in employment, demands for infrastructure, and delivery of public services. The struggles associated with planning for the current oil boom are partially rooted in past experience that suggests oil booms are quickly followed by oil busts. Additionally, part of the problem has been due to the speed and magnitude of changes exhibited by the industry and a lack of understanding how this oil boom may be different from past boom/bust cycles. Long-term insights on the magnitude of oil field development and population expectations are critical to providing proper perspective to managing both short-term needs in the Williston Basin, but also in properly allocating sufficient resources to address long-term development. The research reported here was part of a study to forecast electrical load growth in the Williston Basin. Employment and population forecasts presented in this summary were part of that larger study. This summary paper highlights projections for North Dakota. While discussion of these projections is presented on a regional basis, county-level estimates for housing demand and population potential are contained in the attached appendices.