Oil Boom

After she completed her year as a student teacher in southern Oregon, Joleena Malugani (pictured) couldn't find work close to home. So she accepted the best offer she got -- which meant moving to the heart of oil country, Odessa, Texas -- and learned that not everyone is lifted in a boom economy. West Texas' ...

Thousands of people have flocked to West Texas in the past two years in the hope of riding its oil boom. Rents in the area have skyrocketed, almost every apartment has a waiting list, and some end up living in motels for months on end. But it's not just oil field workers who are feeling the squeeze for shelter. ...

Like a 21st century Gold Rush, tens of thousands of Americans have packed their bags in the last two years and moved to one of the country's booming oil towns. But many of these migrants, lured by the promise of jobs and prosperity, have found themselves unable to find work or housing. Some have ended up living ...

By James MacPherson BISMARCK, N.D. -- Home improvement retailer Menard Inc. says that it will hire workers from its home base in Wisconsin and fly them to North Dakota to staff a store in Minot, which is near the state's booming oil patch, a region that has more jobs than takers. The company said in a ...

If California is the Golden State, and Florida is the Sunshine State then North Dakota might as well be the Employment State. Though its formal nickname is the Peace Garden State, North Dakota currently has the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. at 3.5 percent. That's 5.6 points lower than the national ...