Montana Reaches 22nd Consecutive Month of Unemployment Below 3%

• September 19 2023

HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today announced Montana’s unemployment rate in August was below 3% for the 22nd consecutive month, bucking national trends as the country’s unemployment rate rose to 3.8% in August.

Montanans have created more than 8,600 jobs in the first eight months of 2023 and nearly 40,000 jobs since Gov. Gianforte took office in January 2021.

“Despite national headwinds of inflation, Montanans continue to work hard to earn a living, own or rent a home, raise their family, and achieve the American dream,” Gov. Gianforte said. “We’ll continue to advance our pro-jobs, pro-family, pro-business policies to drive our economy forward and help Montanans prosper.”

Total employment in Montana has grown every month of 2023, reaching a record high in August of 563,078 workers.

In August, Montana’s labor force also grew by more than 500 workers, adding nearly 7,500 workers since the start of the year.

Montana’s unemployment rate remained at 2.5% in August.

In August, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.6% over-the-month. Rising gas prices accounted for the majority of the increase while shelter prices also continued to rise. The 12-month change in the all-items index was 3.7%, slightly more than the change for the 12 months ending in July. The index for all items minus food and energy, also called core inflation, increased by 0.3% for the month. For the year ending in August, core inflation was 4.3%.

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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 September 2023, will be released on Friday, October 20^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 2.5%. 

****** 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 2.5%. 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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