The “Help Wanted” signs are out all over North Dakota.
As of the end of May, Job Service North Dakota listed 18,000 job openings.
"That's the highest since July, 2015," said Job Service interim director Bryan Klipfel. "And a good percentage of them are good-paying jobs."
Klipfel said there continue to be openings in health care, trucking, administration and retail. He said the state is doing some things to help people get back to work. One was ending the federal unemployment pandemic payments in June.
"Hopefully, that will get some people to work," Klipfel said. "It's not going to fill the 18,000 open jobs, however."
Klipfel said he also hopes to find ways to remove some of the barriers people face in returning to work.
"Health care, day care, people with addictions, the homeless, those who are justice-involved -- there's justa lot of individuals that have these barriers," Klipfel said. "We need to try to help them get back to work."
