2024-02-21 13:18:49
GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks has experienced faster wage growth than both Fargo and Minneapolis in the last year, local and national data shows.
Mayor Brandon Bochenski
Contributed/City of Grand Forks
Between November 2022 and November 2023, Grand Forks’ average earnings increased by 11%. The data, from the mayor’s office and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that Grand Forks has outpaced both Fargo and Minneapolis-Saint Paul for wage growth in that same period.
“(Higher wages are) a big contributor to quality of life,” Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said. “If you have to work constantly just to make ends meet, even if you love your job, you don’t have time to enjoy with your family and friends. So that’s why seeing the wage growth in Grand Forks is pretty exciting.”
Grand Forks also had among the lowest unemployment rates in the country in December at 1.8%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is lower than North Dakota’s rate of 1.9%, which is tied with Maryland for the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.
In December, Fargo had an unemployment rate of 1.7% and Minneapolis-Saint Paul had a rate of 2.4%. Not only do many of the jobs coming to Grand Forks have higher wages, but jobs already in Grand Forks are paying more now.
“You have to have job growth to go along with your wage growth. They’ve got to come hand in hand,” Bochenski said. “(Both Fargo and Grand Forks) have constrained workforce, but in Grand Forks that’s led to higher wages, where it’s really been more flattened in Fargo.”
As wages continue their increase, inflation has been on a steady decline since its peak of over 9% in June 2022. Currently, inflation is 3.1%, which is higher than it was previous to its climb in 2021 but lower than it was the entire of 2022 when the rate of inflation didn’t drop below 6.5%.
“What’s probably even more exciting is that (this trend of higher wages) hasn’t been there in the past,” Bochenski said. “Wages have been compressed in Grand Forks (and) household incomes low. … At the minimum we’ve opened the door by bringing more business in.”
Voigt covers city government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.
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