Governor Bullock Announces Montana’s Unemployment Rate Declines to 5.6% in August

• September 18 2020

Governor Steve Bullock today announced Montana’s unemployment rate continued its downward trend in August, dropping by 0.9 percentage points to 5.6%. Montana’s unemployment rate is well below the national rate of 8.4% for August.  

“Montana continues to outperform the national economy in our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Governor Steve Bullock said. “If we continue to come together to fight this virus, we can keep Montana’s workers and business owners healthy and safe and further our economic recovery.”

Montana has the 7th lowest unemployment rate in the nation. August total employment levels were 713 jobs higher than July. Total employment includes payroll, agricultural, and self-employed workers. Payroll employment increased by 400 jobs in August. The largest gains in payroll jobs occurred in federal government employment due to hiring for the U.S. Census.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 0.4% in August with a broad-based increase in prices across all goods. The index for all items less food and energy, also called core inflation, rose by 0.4%. Although these metrics suggest inflation is higher than in the past year, the increase in the all items less food and energy has increased by only 1.7% over the last twelve months, remaining below the Federal Reserve’s inflation target. Inflation below the target suggests accommodative monetary policy will continue in the upcoming months.

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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 0.6 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.

The next Labor Situation Report for the month of September will be released on Tuesday, October 20.

**** 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 economic data for the current recession.

****** 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 5.2%. 

****** 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 5.2%. 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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