Governor Gianforte Announces Montana’s Historic Unemployment Streak Continues

• December 20 2024

Helena, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today announced that Montana's unemployment rate was at 3.2% for the month of November, continuing its historic stretch of unemployment with the rate remaining at or below 3.4% for 41 consecutive months.

“I ran for governor for two reasons: to create more good-paying jobs and to protect Montana’s way of life,” Gov. Gianforte said. “It’s clear we’re doing both. The American dream is alive and well in Montana — with our pro-jobs, pro-family policies, we remain the last best place for opportunity in the United States.”

The state’s historic stretch of low unemployment continues to break records. The next closest stretch was during 2006 and 2007, when the state’s unemployment rate remained at or below 3.4% for 15 months.

The unemployment rate fell with the total number of payroll jobs increasing by 900 jobs, led by gains in the accommodation and food services industry. Since the start of the year, Montana has added 12,000 jobs.

November marked the fifth consecutive month that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased. The all-items index rose 2.7% for the 12 months ending in November. Core inflation, or the index for all-items less food and energy, rose 0.3% in November for a 12-month increase of 3.3%. The indexes for shelter rose 0.3% in November, accounting for 40% of the increase in the monthly all-items index.

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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 Data and Operations Bureau at 406-444-4100.

The next Labor Market Information report, including data from December 2024, will be released on Tuesday, January 28^th.

**** 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. Visit www.lmi.mt.gov/home/job-tracking for Montana unemployment claims and current economic data.

****** 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 2.7%. 

****** 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 2.7%. Reservation areas overlap with county areas, meaning that unemployed individuals living on a reservation will be included in both the reservation and county totals.

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