Command Center Inc., a Post Falls-based temporary staffing company with 54 offices in the U.S., has launched a wholly-owned division, doing business as Bakken Staffing, to fill expanding employment needs in North Dakota's western oil drilling region.

New drilling technology has freed vast reserves of oil in the Williston Basin of North Dakota's Bakken Oil Shale Region, creating a ramp-up in the amount of oil drilling there and a large demand for employees, the company said in a press release.

Bakken Staffing, currently headquartered in Minot, N.D., started operating Oct. 20 and has a total of five branch staffing offices in North Dakota, located in Williston, Bismarck, Dickinson, Fargo, and Minot.

Ron Junck, Command Center executive vice president, says the division's launch coincided with the grand opening in October of a staffing office in the town of Williston. The company already had the other four North Dakota offices, and all five locations now have the Bakken Staffing signage.

"It's just a huge upswing in the North Dakota economy, with a lot of jobs going unfilled both directly involved in the oil drilling business and the ancillary services related to that industry," Junck says. "As a staffing company, that's exactly what we do, and that is to find people to fill job openings."

Junck adds, "I expect to see that our activities in North Dakota and the level of business will grow more rapidly than any other area of the country."

The oil drilling activity in recent months has drawn an influx of an estimated 35,000 workers, said an Oct. 17 article in the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper. The town of Williston has seen the largest boom. The Star Tribune also reported that state of North Dakota figures showed 16,435 job openings that month, up 48 percent from a year ago.

If drilling continues as projected, the Star Tribune said, western North Dakota will have 45,000 wells within two decades, each with a life expectancy of 30 years or more and supporting 45,000 long-term jobs.

Junck says that Command Center, which has a nationwide presence, can draw potential employees to North Dakota from other regions as needed.

"If that means recruiting other people from other parts of the country, then we are the right folks to do that," Junck says. "We already were involved in a high level of jobs in Minot from the flood-recovery work. Now with the acceleration in the Bakken region ... new orders coming in from Bakken are more orders on a higher level than we've ever seen in any other region of the country before."

In the press release announcing the launch of Bakken Staffing, Command Center's Chairman and CEO Glenn Welstad said, "With more than 350 oil- and gas-related companies operating in the Williston area alone, the Bakken Shale Region offers an exceptional opportunity for economic expansion." The company projected that the new division may become the largest source of productivity and revenue for Command Center nationwide.

Junck says Bakken Staffing hasn't significantly increased Commend Center's total number of employees in North Dakota, because the company already had a strong presence there.

Meanwhile, a challenge to the growth in the region is the need to find living quarters for the influx of new workers, Junck adds. "The economy is growing so quickly; the housing needs to catch up. There's a critical housing shortage right now."

The company appointed Pollyann Grubelnik, formerly a regional vice president based in Post Falls, as the new president of the Bakken Staffing division. Junck says Grubelnik and her family recently relocated to Minot from Post Falls.

Command Center has offices in 24 states and provides workers for manual labor, light-industrial jobs, and skilled-trade positions. It serves mostly small- to mid-sized businesses in a number of industries, including construction, transportation, warehousing, landscaping, light-manufacturing, retail, and wholesale.