GF Business News: jobs…sales tax & camping

The Federal Reserve’s inflation gauge slowed sharply last month. A report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose 0.3% from January to February, down from a 0.6% increase from December to January. The report also showed that consumer spending rose 0.2% from January to February.

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New unemployment claims climbed by 7-thousand last week over the week before. The Labor Department says there were 198-thousand new claims for the week ending March 25th. Numbers came in slightly above analyst expectations, but were still below the 200-thousand threshold for the 10th straight week. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 18 were in Massachusetts (+1,293), Mississippi (+729), Georgia (+627), District of Columbia (+607), and Tennessee (+513).

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The February jobless rate in Grand Forks County inched up slightly from January to February. By comparison the 2.3% mark compares to 2.5% one year ago. According to Job Service North Dakota there were 896 workers in search of a job during the month. By comparison the u employment rate in Walsh County was 4.4%….Nelson 4%…and Traill 2.2%.

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More than 55 employers are registered for the Spring 2023 Multi-Industry Job Fair sponsored by Job Service North Dakota. Employers are now hiring for positions in the Grand Forks area as well as Greater North Dakota. The latest Online Job Openings Report lists 1,976 job openings in the counties of Grand Forks…Pembina…Walsh…and Nelson. The event is set for April 13the at the Alerus Center.

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First quarter city sales tax collections in Grand Forks are showing positive gains. The March check of $2.14 million dollars pushed total collections for the year to over $8.22 million. That’s up 9.41% over the first 3 months in 2022. The one-quarter restaurant-lodging component of the tax was up 14% compared to one year ago.

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Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,524,000. This is 13.8 percent above the revised January rate, but is 17.9 percent below the February 2022 rate of 1,857,000.

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The Grand Forks School District hopes to name a new Director of Buildings and Grounds – soon. A total of four people have applied for the post left vacant by the resignation of Darin Johnson. When Johnson was hired in August of last year (2022) a total of seven candidates were interviewed.

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The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA) awarded over $211 million in the second half of 2022 and early 2023. The awards will fund 25 projects to improve water quality and infrastructure in 21 communities statewide. Ada (MN) will receive $1.478 million for repairing and relining aging sewer lines.

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The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is modernizing payment options at state parks, recreation areas and forest campgrounds. It includes discontinuing the use of on-site self-payment collection boxes and expanding electronic payment options. This includes deploying an app for mobile payments called Yodel. The goal is to reduce the risk of theft of payment envelopes collected on site, and improve data security.

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After 36 years Bruce Viessman, vice president of operations for the Sanford Health Fargo network, has retired. Viessman joined Sanford Health in April 2008, as the chief financial officer for the Sioux Falls region and later for the Sanford Health network. In 2017, he became the vice president of operations for the Fargo network. Susan Jarvis, vice president of operations for Sanford Fargo, will assume the operational oversight responsibilities for the Fargo network.