The Greater Fargo Moorhead region continues to navigate a fast-changing labor market, and the latest workforce survey results—shared at the 2025 GFMEDC Workforce Breakfast and compiled in partnership with FMHRA—offer a clear picture of what employers are facing and where opportunities lie. With 173 surveys representing more than 38,000 employees (25+% of regional employment) across 17 industry sectors, the data provides one of the most comprehensive snapshots of our regional workforce to date.
Below are the biggest takeaways shaping hiring, retention, and talent strategy for the year ahead.
Hiring Remains Strong — Even Amid Uncertainty
Despite broader economic questions, companies across the region expect to keep hiring. Over the next 12–18 months, survey respondents anticipate filling open roles. Survey respondents indicated that the hiring is attributed to:
- 21% attributed to new positions
- 73% due to turnover
- 5% tied to retirements
Remote work options for employees are still prevalent in our region compared to national data. In fact, primary-sector businesses show this as a meaningful trend and expect a notably higher share—14.5% compared to 6.6% of non-primary-sector respondents — of roles to be eligible for remote work.
Workforce recruitment continues to be a top priority for business leaders, and this is reflected not only in the data but in recent comments made by state leaders such as North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong and NDUS Commissioner Brent Sanford.
Recruitment Is Getting Harder — and More Local
Nearly every employer is sourcing talent locally, but the data shows that approach is becoming increasingly challenging given our historic low unemployment rate and higher labor market participation rate. Employers report:
- 93% recruiting locally
- 60% recruiting across the Midwest
- 33% recruiting nationally
- Very few recruiting internationally
Digital hiring tactics remain core—LinkedIn, online job boards, and company websites—but in-person strategies such as job fairs, internships, and work-based learning continue to play an important role.
Skill Gaps Are Consistent with Past Survey Data — and Centered on Foundational Skills
When asked to identify the most persistent skill gaps, employers overwhelmingly pointed to:
- Work ethic
- Initiative
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
These nearly mirror last year’s survey results, suggesting that foundational-skill development remains a major opportunity area for both employers and educators.
Encouragingly, 81% of organizations now use skills-based hiring for at least some roles—signaling a shift toward evaluating job candidates based on abilities rather than job titles or degrees.
Companies Are Increasingly Open to Foreign-Born Talent
With persistent hiring challenges, employers are showing rising interest in tapping talent with limited English proficiency. According to the 2025 dataset:
- 15% are actively hiring and already have support systems
- 28% are open to hiring but lack support resources
- 7% haven’t hired yet but are interested
Programs like EnGen (English upskilling) and Cherokee Federal’s Team Hope (foreign-born worker hiring initiative) were among the most-requested resources.
This interest points to an opportunity for regional support systems, training providers, and employers to collaborate on more accessible pathways into in-demand occupations.
Awareness of Talent Resources Continues to Be a Challenge
One of the strongest themes across survey responses is simply a lack of awareness of programs to address talent needs and skills gaps. Across 37 programs and service providers, companies indicated 960+ instances of not knowing about available resources. Nearly 450 times, via survey-automated information, we connected respondents with different programs and contact information.
Companies had the most interest in learning more about the following programs:
- ND Working Parents Relief
- ND Career Builders
- EnGen
- North Dakota Technical Skills & Training Grant
- ND ROOT Program
- North Dakota New Job Training Program
Better awareness and navigation of existing programs represent one of the quickest wins for easing workforce shortages. For the past year, the GFMEDC has held quarterly workforce recruitment and general information sessions for employers to inform them of the various services being offered, and we will continue to do so given the need represented by our companies.
Retention Is Improving — but Company Culture Matters More Than Ever
The region saw a positive shift in employee retention:
- 70% of companies report not facing retention issues (up from 62% 2024)
- Even with feeling confident that they are focused on their company’s’ culture, HR leaders identified their 2025/26 priorities as:
- Improving Company Culture
- Improving Employee Engagement
- Employee Retention
The strong focus on culture led directly to the launch of the GFMEDC’s Company Culture Program, which provides assessment tools, benchmarking, and a peer network for HR professionals.
Benefits Trends: Flexibility Dominates
Core benefits remain consistent year over year—health insurance, paid vacation, paid holidays, and retirement plans. But flexible scheduling has continued to rise, with:
- 68% of the full data set of companies offering flexible scheduling
- 74% of primary-sector companies were doing the same
Family-supportive benefits such as childcare assistance and student loan repayment continue to appear as “elite” benefits being offered by some companies and are viewed as differentiators in a competitive market.
Promising Practices: What’s Working Across Our Region
This recently completed survey, coupled with the results of the Data & Analytics Workforce Summit held this summer, highlight several strategies with strong potential to move the needle on workforce challenges:
Skills-Based Hiring
Skills-based hiring expands talent pools by focusing on what candidates can do, not just their degrees or job titles.
Accelerated Credentialing
Accelerated credentialing shortens pathways into critical occupations like nursing and manufacturing through micro-credentials and recognition of prior experience.
Virtual Reality Career Exploration
Through partnerships like CareerViewXR, students and jobseekers can explore careers via immersive virtual tours—helping spark interest in high-demand, and sometimes challenging to experience, fields.
Talent Recruitment & Attraction Programs
Tools such as the Lightning Recruitment Program (company specific support for immediate position), LiveInFargo.com, and WorkInFargo.com are helping employers connect with talent more effectively.
The Bottom Line
Workforce challenges remain, but the 2025 data also paints a picture of a region that is adapting—embracing new approaches to talent, prioritizing culture, and building more flexible, inclusive pathways into in-demand careers.
With stronger collaboration, better awareness of existing resources, and continued innovation across recruitment and training, the Fargo Moorhead region is well positioned to tackle the workforce needs of the future.
