Montana's unemployment rate continues to plummet, hitting lows that the state hasn't seen since before the so called "Great Recession" that lasted from December of 2007 to June of 2009. According to Montana Department of Labor and Industry Chief Economist Barbara Wagner, Montana's unemployment rate this June was just 3.8 percent.

"Montana's unemployment rate dropped down a couple points from two months ago, this is the second straight month of it going down by a tenth," Wagner said. "It is the lowest unemployment rate we've had in more than a decade, the last time Montana's unemployment rate was lower than 3.8 was back in July of 2007.

Wagner says seasonal jobs helped to push the unemployment numbers to their current lows.

"A lot of the job growth is coming from seasonal job growth and it is more than we've had in past years, so that's a positive sign," Wagner said. "Really, our employment growth has been happening in all of the different industries in Montana. The one sector where we haven't seen growth this year is in the government sector."

Last month, growth in the private sector more than made up for losses in state and federal government jobs. Payroll employment posted a gain of 400 jobs despite a loss of nearly 800 jobs in government employment during June.

 

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