§ 52-04-03 — Rates and base of contributions of wages paid by employer

1. Subject to the exceptions and modifications provided for in this section and elsewhere
in this chapter, each employer shall pay contributions to the fund equal to two and
seven-tenths percent of wages paid by the employer to any one individual employee
during a calendar year with respect to employment, which also includes service
constituting employment under the employment security law of any other state as
defined in the North Dakota unemployment compensation law or of the federal
government. "Employment", as so inclusive, is applicable throughout to this chapter.
2. The amount of an individual's wages paid to that individual in a calendar year by each
employer and subject to tax may not be in excess of three thousand dollars for the
years prior to 1968, nor in excess of three thousand three hundred dollars for 1968,
nor in excess of three thousand four hundred dollars for 1969, nor in excess of three
thousand eight hundred dollars for 1970, nor in excess of four thousand dollars for
1971, nor in excess of four thousand four hundred dollars for 1972, nor in excess of
four thousand two hundred dollars for 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976, nor in excess of
four thousand three hundred dollars for 1977, and not in excess of six thousand dollars
in 1978.
3. For the year 1979 and each year thereafter, the amount of an individual's wages
subject to tax, paid by each employer, must be in such amount as determined to be in
an amount that is equal to seventy percent of a statewide average annual wage,
rounded to the nearest one hundred dollars, determined by the bureau on or before
each first day of October by the following computation:
The total wages reported on contribution reports for the third and fourth quarters
of the preceding calendar year and the first and second quarters of the current
calendar year must be divided by the average monthly number of covered
workers for the same four quarters, whose number must be determined by
dividing by twelve the total covered employment reported on contribution reports
for those quarters, and the quotient obtained by dividing the total wages by the
average monthly number of covered workers is the statewide average annual
wage.
4. Notwithstanding any of the provisions of subsection 3, the amount of an individual's
wages subject to tax must always be at least equal to the amount that is subject to tax
under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act [68A Stat. 439; 26 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.].