Based on unemployment insurance filings
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.”
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