Governor Kelly Armstrong is working to create a separate state agency to deal with workforce.
Armstrong will ask the 2027 Legislative session to formally create the agency. He says it will take staff from the Commerce Department, Job Service North Dakota, Adult Education, Vocational Rehabilitation and Refugee Resettlement offices.
Armstrong made the announcement at the Governor’s Workforce Summit in Bismarck. He said this is not to grow government, but align efforts for workforce development under one agency.
"We want a business that needs an engineer, or an engineer who wants to find a business, to know where they go," Armstrong said. "You shouldn't have to know the inner workings of every government agency in the state of North Dakota to figure out how to find a job in North Dakota. And we can do that, and we can create efficiencies, and create a sense of urgency to what is the biggest constraint on our growth right now, from one end of the state to the other."
Deputy Commerce Commissioner Katie Ralston-Howe will serve as Workforce Commissioner.
"Workforce is the number one barrier to economic growth in North Dakota," Ralston-Howe said in an interview. "We know this."
Ralston-Howe said the Governor is throwing the weight of his office behind investing into integrated strategies, to address the needs for employers that exist now, and those that want to come to North Dakota.
The combined agency will have around 300 staffers.
