Adding an Exported Services Component to the North Dakota Input-Output Model's Business and Personal Services Sector

The North Dakota Input-Output model has been used extensively to analyze changes in the state's economy. Within the past decade, exported services (e.g., telemarketing, data processing, reservation and financial centers) have become an important component of the North Dakota economic base. The purpose of this report is to estimate the contribution of exported services firms to the economic base (sales for final demand) of North Dakota and of regions and counties within the state, for 1998 and 1999. Exported services sales for final demand in 1999 totaled $348 million statewide, or almost 3 percent of the state's economic base. Regions 5, 2, and 7 had the largest contributions from exported services activities, which amounted to 6 percent of total sales for final demand in Region 5, 4 percent in Region 2, and 2 percent in Region 7.