BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - From 2002 to 2013, 1,169 new places of business were opened in Burleigh and Morton counties.
“The growth of our community is undeniable, but it can be difficult to quantify that growth when it’s happening at such a fast pace,” marketing and research director Judy Sauter said in the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association newsletter. “So while it’s easy to point to specific building projects or anecdotal stories, quantifiable statistics like those in our monthly Economy-at-a-Glance are the best indicators of just how far we’ve come.”
As of 2013, there were 33,267 business establishments in North Dakota, according to North Dakota Job Service statistics.
In Bismarck-Mandan, the local Chamber of Commerce membership has grown from 1,000 businesses in 2003 to 1,300 today, according to Bismarck Mandan Chamber of Commerce President Kelvin Hullet.
When comparing by county, Burleigh, McKenzie, Stark and Williams counties saw the largest growth in numbers of businesses from 2002 to 2013, the Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/1wheoAX ) reported.
Burleigh County gained 912 businesses, McKenzie County gained 663, Stark County gained 700 and Williams County gained 1,507.
Michael Zeisch of Job Service said these numbers are based on unemployment insurance filings. Anyone who is the sole employee of his or her own business would not be counted. The same may be true for many family-run businesses. If a business has multiple locations, each location is counted separately.
The largest growth in the number of businesses came in 2012 for most counties. In some western counties, such as Williams and McKenzie counties, it came a year earlier in 2011.
“Ten, even five years ago, the challenge was attracting the type of businesses that could keep young people in the community,” Hullet said. “Today, young professionals are provided ample opportunities in the community. Now, the challenge is to evolve the recreational, civic and leisure opportunities to attract and retain even more young people to fill the open jobs.”
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Much of the growth was in the form of new construction companies. Prior to 2009-2010, retail establishments had dominated. Now, there are more construction companies than retailers or other businesses in many communities.
In Burleigh County, which contains Bismarck’s high retail concentration, construction businesses started outnumbering retail as early as 2008. The gap in business entity numbers widened by 28 in 2010, growing steadily to 121 by 2013. The largest growth happened in 2012 with 56 more construction entities than the year prior. Morton County’s major construction company spike came in 2013, growing 13 percent over previous years.
“If you think back to those two years, 2009 - 2010, we were just starting to experience the boom that we’re in now,” said Brian Ritter, BMDA president. “Included in that increased economic activity was construction, both commercial and residential. There are multiple facets to construction that require a number of different types of business establishments, which I think contributes to construction outnumbering retail.”
Zeisch agreed that, because construction companies can be small with not a lot of barriers to starting and can be specialized, the number of companies can grow more rapidly.
“At the same time, you may have seen some retail trade being affected by consolidation and the trend to fewer, but bigger players,” he said.
Statewide, 2,600 of the 4,473 construction business entities are specialty trade contractors.
Eric Brenden of Northwest Contracting said Northwest uses a lot of the same sub-contractors it did before Bismarck’s growth but added there are more to choose from.
Hullet said, in the last five years, the number of service companies related to oil industry development have increased. They are locating their operating base in Bismarck-Mandan but also providing daily service to the west.
“Construction; engineering; legal services; accounting; title work; medical and manufacturing either arrived or added employees,” Hullet said.
Construction company numbers also dominate other industries in Williams, Stark, Sioux, Oliver, Mercer, McLean, Golden Valley, Emmons and Bowman counties.
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Another industry that saw spikes in company number growth was transportation, particularly truck transportation. In 2011, the number of transport companies statewide increased 40 percent over the previous year and the number went up another 25.6 percent in 2012.
The number of trucking companies in the state went from 971 in 2010 to 1,526 in 2011 and 2,031 in 2012.
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The last sector to see major spikes starting in 2010 was, predictably, the mining and oil and gas extraction industries. Mining and mining support industries had larger business entity growth numbers and percentages.
Mining rose 27.5 percent to the oil and gas industry’s 17 percent in 2011. In 2012, mining rose about 53 percent compared to the 21 percent rise of oil and gas.
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Other industries across the state have maintained a fairly level number of businesses since 2002. However, educational services, health care and social assistance entities have seen slight rises in 2013.
“The Chamber is now involved in addressing issues such as affordable housing and childcare,” Hullet said. “A decade ago, those issues were not on the radar screen.”
Educational service entities are up 11.6 percent, or 20 establishments, since 2012. Health care and social assistance facilities are up 9 percent, or 186 establishments. Prior to 2010, most percentage growths for these entities were 4 to 5 percent.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com
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