Phl urged to explore job opportunities in North Dakota

MANILA, Philippines - Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. said the Philippines should take advantage of the huge labor opportunities in North Dakota, the fastest growing state economy in the US and the second highest oil-producing state next to Texas.

Cuisia said Philippine companies would have the chance to explore labor and business opportunities in North Dakota when a trade and investment mission from the state visits Manila in February. 

“We are being given the opportunity to be part of this boom and we should take advantage of it by looking into investments in infrastructure and possibly even jobs for Filipino oil workers,” Cuisia said.

“(North Dakota) Governor (Jack) Dalrymple is very interested and wants to find out how North Dakota could tap Filipino workers,” he added.

Cuisia made the call over the weekend following his three-day economic diplomacy outreach mission to the Bismarck and Fargo upon the invitation of Dalrymple.

Cuisia said there used to be as many as 2,000 Filipinos working in the energy sector in the US, including a number in Louisiana who helped rehabilitate offshore oil platforms that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

He also said that at present, North Dakota accounts for 10 percent of the overall daily oil production of the US, producing 800,000 barrels of oil per day in June alone and even overtaking the production of California and Alaska.

North Dakota’s oil boom started in 2008 when it was discovered that oil shale formations in the western part of the state had much more oil and natural gas than what had been previously thought, he said.

North Dakota topped the list of the fastest growing states in the US after it posted a gross domestic product growth rate of 13.4 percent last year, owing largely to the energy boom that also allowed it to not only lower the unemployment rate to three percent but also cut income tax rate several times, Cuisia added, citing reports from the US Department of Commerce.