Burgum signs bill creating Office of Legal Immigration to help address North Dakota’s workforce challenges

BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum on Friday signed bipartisan laws creating an Workplace of Authorized Immigration throughout the North Dakota Division of Commerce to assist companies recruit and retain international labor and handle the state’s workforce challenges.

The immigration workplace will develop a pilot program to help companies pursuing or using authorized immigrants and assist communities develop plans and actions to combine immigrants. The workplace additionally might contract with different state businesses and personal organizations to develop and administer packages or providers associated to bringing authorized immigrants into the state’s workforce, together with these already in the US. The invoice consists of authorization and funding for 2 extra Commerce workforce members to manage the workplace.

“Working with the Legislature, we proceed to pursue a complete technique to handle North Dakota’s workforce challenges, and the Workplace of Authorized Immigration will play an necessary position in these efforts by serving to employers recruit and retain authorized immigrants,” Burgum mentioned. “We’re grateful to the invoice’s sponsors, the Division of Commerce and the enterprise and medical communities for supporting this laws to alleviate our excessive workforce scarcity, which stays North Dakota’s No. 1 barrier to financial development.”

The invoice requires Commerce to conduct a research – with enter from employers – on immigration alternatives, immigration targets and methods to measure progress, and a construction for a pilot program to help companies and communities pursuing authorized immigration. Commerce additionally should develop a fee-based system for immigration workplace providers to be applied within the 2025-27 biennium.

North Dakota had the second-lowest unemployment charge within the nation in March, at 2.1%. Job Service North Dakota reported greater than 17,000 on-line job openings in March, the latest month obtainable, and estimates are that the precise variety of obtainable jobs could also be twice that many as a result of employers aren’t posting each open place.

Senate Invoice 2142 was launched by Sen. Tim Mathern of Fargo and co-sponsored by Sens. Kristin Roers and Ronald Sorvaag, each of Fargo, and Reps. Zachary Ista of Grand Forks, Lisa Meier of Bismarck and Alisa Mitskog of Wahpeton. It handed the Senate 41-5 and the Home 64-28.

Earlier Protection: ND Senate approves invoice to create Workplace of Immigration

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