Jobless rate still increasing

Northwest Montana continues to endure the throes of high unemployment, according to the latest state figures released Friday.

The four counties with the highest unemployment are in Northwest Montana — and all experienced higher jobless rates for March.

Lincoln County posted an unemployment rate of 19.2 percent for March, up from 18 percent in February.

Flathead County’s unemployment rate rose to 13.8 percent, up from 13.3 percent a month earlier.

It was a similar story in Sanders County (a 17.7 percent jobless rate, up from 17 percent) and Mineral County (14 percent, up from 13.4 percent.

Only Lake County remained stable with its 11.3 percent unemployment rate unchanged from February.

Out of Flathead County’s total work force of 43,680, there were 37,637 people with jobs and 6,043 without jobs during March, according to Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

March’s 13.8 percent was the highest monthly unemployment rate the state has registered for Flathead County since record-keeping began in 1990.

For Flathead County, the grim job news Friday marked the seventh straight month of rising unemployment. The monthly numbers have been increasing since August 2008’s 8.7 percent rate.

A year ago, the unemployment rate in Flathead County was 12.7 percent, the highest monthly number for 2009.

Employment numbers for individual counties are not adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in the work force.

The seasonally adjusted jobless figure for Montana shows a rise in March to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent in January.

Casting aside seasonal adjustments, the statewide unemployment rate for March was 8 percent.