The WSJ has an interesting article on how North Dakota is ahead of the economic curve due to its energy industry: "Mr. Hamm [founder and CEO of Continental Resources] believes that if Mr. Obama truly wants more job creation, he should study North Dakota, the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 3.5%. He swears that number is overstated: 'We can't find any unemployed people up there. The state has 18,000 unfilled jobs,' Mr. Hamm insists. 'And these are jobs that pay $60,000 to $80,000 a year.' The economy is expanding so fast that North Dakota has a housing shortage. Thanks to the oil boom—Continental pays more than $50 million in state taxes a year—the state has a budget surplus and is considering ending income and property taxes."
