I have been employed in higher education most, but not all, of my working career. For a good part of this time, I have been a department administrator. As part of this job, I filed annual reports attempting to make the best case I could regarding the performance and needs of my department. I frequently used national data to comment on the salaries awarded to members of my department. I am used to making arguments based on numbers.
ND has enjoyed a good run relative to the general state of affairs in the nation. I attribute this to the foresight of the politicians of the state who had the wisdom to bring the rains, improve the value of the Canadian dollar, and position the state on top of vast oil reserves. I wish they would apply the same wisdom to supporting the higher education institutions of the state. The Governor has already announced that we in higher education should not expect as much from the state in the future. Since the oil is here for a while, I am guessing the politicians are anticipating a dry spell or a major disagreement with our neighbors to the North.
Anyway, I thought some pictures might be a concrete way to examine the state of the state relative to the state of the nation.
According to State Master, citizens of North Dakota rank near the middle of the country in average income and are in the bottom five (a good thing) when it comes to unemployment.
These data are less impressive than information summarizing the state’s recovery from the nation’s recent economic downturn (Bureau of Economic Analysis). If you look at the numbers, it appears that ND has grown more than any other state (at least 7.1 was the largest value I could find).
You may not follow the Chronicle of Higher Education. I am with you on this lack of interest, but the organization can be a good source for data on the national scene in higher education. The Chronicle offered a recent summary of faculty pay so I thought I would check out how UND was doing. I mean good times here, poor times elsewhere – perhaps UND was gaining some ground relative to what I remember from the days in which I charted this type of thing.
Hmm – far below the median. I guess this is the North Dakota Way the politicians are constantly touting.