“A lot of them are farm people, and they come here thinking they can go into the fields and lift stuff,” he says. “But it’s not really like that, so they end up working at Walmart.”
It’s hard to estimate how many foreigners are in this part of North Dakota. But the number of blacks and Hispanics in the state rose by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2013, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce. And that figure likely misses all the workers who are here on a temporary basis, living in hotel rooms, RVs, or company-provided “man camps,” says Kevin Iverson, manager of North Dakota’s Census Office.
The number of blacks working in the state, for example, is actually twice as many as report living there, he says: “People come up to Minnesota, then drift over because the job market is stronger here.”
Something similar happened to John Roberts, originally from Liberia. He was working at a food-processing plant in Iowa before moving to North Dakota in 2014. He found work driving a van for oil workers, though he recently lost that job as a result of the drilling slowdown. He isn’t moving, either. “I need a job right now, and I’m hoping people find me fit and qualified,” he says while looking for work at Williston’s employment center.
Thomas Sample drives a truck hauling water, sand, and other materials for the oil industry. An African-American originally from Brooklyn, New York, he says he loves meeting the Africans in town and also offers advice for getting work.
“I tell them, ‘You’ve got an accent, that’s intriguing to people, expand on it,'” says Sample. “They’re well dressed, educated—they’re a real positive here.”
It’s not only Africans who have moved to Williston. Chris Neiffer, who moved here with her family from Montana two years ago, says that in addition to West Africa, she has met people from Brazil, Peru, Australia, and Germany.
She likes that her grandkids get to interact with different cultures without having to move to a big city. “You want to meet people from all over the world, this is the place to do it,” she says.
This article first appeared on CNNMoney, a Next Economy content partner.
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