Governor Steve Bullock today announced that Montana’s unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8% for the month of January, up 0.1 percentage points from December, likely reflecting impacts from the federal government shutdown. The national unemployment rate also increased by a tenth of a percentage point up to 4.0%.
“It’s clear that the federal government shutdown negatively impacted our economic growth and the federal workers who had to go without their paychecks,” said Governor Bullock. “Despite this, we continue to add jobs to our economy, and we will continue to ensure businesses can find skilled and trained workers and Montanans can access the good jobs needed to climb the ladder of opportunity.”
Total employment, which includes payroll, agricultural, and self-employed workers, indicated a small increase of 229 jobs in January. Payroll employment indicates a small decline in employment, with declines in federal government and professional and business services. The low changes in employment levels likely reflect decreased economic activity during the January federal government shutdown.
In addition, the Department of Labor & Industry has released revised and updated statewide unemployment and employment growth numbers for the previous five years. Unemployment rate and employment estimates are revised each year in February in a process called benchmarking, which typically results in more accurate estimates and a smoother data series. Updated estimates suggest employment growth of 0.8% for 2018, or roughly 4,250 jobs. This employment growth rate is slightly slower than in previous years, but paired with continued output growth, simply reinforces that Montana businesses are struggling to find sufficient workers to support growth. Montana’s preliminary GDP estimates suggest growth faster than the U.S. during 2018.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in January, with a decline in the energy index offsetting increases in other items. Gasoline prices decreased by 5.5% over the month. The index for all items less food and energy, also called core inflation, increased 0.2% in January.
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** Unemployment figures are seasonally-adjusted. Seasonally-adjusted numbers remove the effects of events that follow a more or less regular month-to-month pattern each year. These adjustments make non-seasonal patterns easier to identify. The margin of error for the unemployment rate is plus or minus 0.5 percentage points at the 90 percent confidence level. All questions relating to the calculation of unemployment rates should be directed to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Research and Analysis Bureau at 406-444-4100.
Due to the annual process to benchmark and revision to the prior year’s labor market estimates, the next Labor Situation Report for the month of February 2019 will be released on Friday, March 22, 2019, resulting in both January and February releases issued during March. March estimates will be released on the third Friday in April, consistent with the typical schedule.
****** INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET ******
Visit our website at www.lmi.mt.gov for additional information and analysis, including industry employment levels, background on the unemployment rate, and wage rates by occupation.
****** COUNTY UNEMPLOYMENT RATES ******
The unemployment rate and ranking for each of Montana’s 56 counties is provided below for your convenience. County unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted and should be compared to the unadjusted statewide unemployment rate of 5.0%.
|
|
Unemployment Rate
|
Employment
|
|
Rank
|
County
|
Current Unemployment Rate
|
Change over Year
|
Current Employment
|
Job Change from Last Year
|
|
1
|
McCone
|
2.3
|
0.1
|
948
|
-24
|
|
2
|
Fallon
|
2.6
|
-0.3
|
1,604
|
-29
|
|
3
|
Daniels
|
2.7
|
-0.2
|
837
|
-33
|
|
4
|
Toole
|
2.8
|
-0.7
|
2,005
|
19
|
|
5
|
Gallatin
|
3
|
-0.2
|
64,041
|
2,108
|
|
6
|
Richland
|
3.1
|
-0.5
|
5,673
|
-79
|
|
7
|
Dawson
|
3.2
|
0
|
4,523
|
25
|
|
8
|
Garfield
|
3.5
|
0.2
|
712
|
-30
|
|
9
|
Liberty
|
3.6
|
1
|
937
|
4
|
|
9
|
Sheridan
|
3.6
|
0.2
|
1,664
|
-94
|
|
11
|
Treasure
|
3.8
|
-0.3
|
333
|
9
|
|
12
|
Chouteau
|
4
|
0.2
|
2,380
|
17
|
|
12
|
Sweet Grass
|
4
|
-0.6
|
1,671
|
-35
|
|
14
|
Powder River
|
4.1
|
0.5
|
911
|
-49
|
|
15
|
Yellowstone
|
4.2
|
-0.2
|
77,283
|
427
|
|
16
|
Cascade
|
4.4
|
-0.4
|
36,585
|
594
|
|
16
|
Lewis and Clark
|
4.4
|
-0.2
|
33,819
|
675
|
|
16
|
Stillwater
|
4.4
|
-0.4
|
4,748
|
169
|
|
16
|
Valley
|
4.4
|
0.1
|
3,793
|
-80
|
|
16
|
Wibaux
|
4.4
|
0.7
|
416
|
-22
|
|
21
|
Deer Lodge
|
4.5
|
-0.9
|
4,764
|
-37
|
|
22
|
Custer
|
4.6
|
0.4
|
5,705
|
-112
|
|
22
|
Hill
|
4.6
|
0.6
|
7,207
|
-359
|
|
24
|
Beaverhead
|
4.7
|
0.5
|
4,788
|
-29
|
|
24
|
Carter
|
4.7
|
0.9
|
645
|
-12
|
|
24
|
Madison
|
4.7
|
-0.6
|
4,750
|
241
|
|
27
|
Missoula
|
4.8
|
0
|
60,689
|
2,466
|
|
27
|
Powell
|
4.8
|
-1.1
|
2,649
|
38
|
|
29
|
Prairie
|
4.9
|
-0.1
|
463
|
4
|
|
30
|
Teton
|
5.0
|
0.1
|
2,579
|
8
|
|
31
|
Jefferson
|
5.1
|
0
|
5,347
|
82
|
|
32
|
Broadwater
|
5.2
|
-0.2
|
2,480
|
77
|
|
32
|
Silver Bow
|
5.2
|
-0.1
|
16,248
|
100
|
|
34
|
Carbon
|
5.3
|
0.4
|
5,202
|
124
|
|
34
|
Judith Basin
|
5.3
|
-0.5
|
885
|
19
|
|
36
|
Fergus
|
5.5
|
-0.6
|
5,427
|
52
|
|
36
|
Musselshell
|
5.5
|
-0.6
|
2,062
|
-108
|
|
36
|
Pondera
|
5.5
|
0.4
|
2,558
|
-7
|
|
39
|
Meagher
|
5.6
|
0.2
|
958
|
57
|
|
39
|
Petroleum
|
5.6
|
-1.2
|
268
|
8
|
|
41
|
Phillips
|
5.7
|
-1.7
|
1,821
|
42
|
|
41
|
Roosevelt
|
5.7
|
0.4
|
4,189
|
-151
|
|
43
|
Park
|
5.8
|
0.3
|
8,110
|
179
|
|
44
|
Wheatland
|
5.9
|
-0.2
|
730
|
6
|
|
45
|
Lake
|
6.0
|
0.1
|
12,200
|
-210
|
|
46
|
Blaine
|
6.3
|
0.5
|
2,129
|
-71
|
|
47
|
Ravalli
|
6.4
|
0.2
|
18,559
|
68
|
|
48
|
Flathead
|
6.7
|
-0.1
|
44,047
|
679
|
|
48
|
Rosebud
|
6.7
|
-0.2
|
3,554
|
-108
|
|
50
|
Golden Valley
|
7.0
|
0.6
|
346
|
-5
|
|
51
|
Granite
|
8.6
|
0.1
|
1,610
|
80
|
|
52
|
Mineral
|
9.6
|
-2.1
|
1,532
|
106
|
|
53
|
Sanders
|
9.7
|
-0.5
|
4,299
|
-28
|
|
54
|
Big Horn
|
10.1
|
-1.7
|
4,423
|
-330
|
|
55
|
Glacier
|
10.5
|
0.7
|
4,932
|
-9
|
|
56
|
Lincoln
|
11.1
|
0.1
|
7,162
|
258
|
****** RESERVATION UNEMPLOYMENT RATES ******
The unemployment rate and ranking for each of Montana’s seven reservations is provided below. Reservation unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted and should be compared to the unadjusted statewide unemployment rate of 5.0%. Reservation areas overlap with county areas, meaning that unemployed individuals living on a reservation will be included in both the reservation and county totals.
|
|
Unemployment Rate
|
Employment
|
|
Rank
|
County
|
Current Unemployment Rate
|
Change over Year
|
Current Employment
|
Job Change from Last Year
|
|
1
|
Flathead
|
6.4
|
0
|
11950
|
-177
|
|
2
|
Fort Peck
|
7.2
|
0.4
|
3760
|
-131
|
|
3
|
Rocky Boy's
|
13.8
|
1.3
|
1042
|
-35
|
|
4
|
Fort Belknap
|
13.9
|
0
|
702
|
-22
|
|
5
|
Blackfeet
|
14.5
|
1.1
|
3497
|
-7
|
|
6
|
Crow
|
14.9
|
-2.5
|
2251
|
-147
|
|
7
|
Northern Cheyenne
|
16.1
|
-0.9
|
1239
|
-57
|