Jobless rates still increasing in Valley

December 2009 marked the fourth straight month of rising unemployment in Flathead County.

Flathead’s unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in December, according to figures released Friday by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

That represented an increase from 10.1 percent in November. The local jobless rate was 9.3 percent in October and 8.8 percent in September.

Before September, the local unemployment rate had been steadily declining from its peak of 12.7 percent in March 2009.

The December figures show that out of Flathead County’s total labor force of 47,536 people, there were 42,344 with jobs and 5,192 without jobs.

The difficult job situation also affected other Northwest Montana counties.

Lincoln County’s unemployment rate jumped from 12.8 percent in November to 15 percent in December.

Mineral County went from 10.2 percent to 12.2 percent and Sanders County went from 12.2 percent to 14.4 percent.

In Lake County, the jobless rate rose from 9.2 to 9.7 percent.

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

Montana’s statewide unemployment rate climbed from 6.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted 6.7 percent from November to December.

The state labor agency said the increase was driven by continued job losses and lower-than-usual seasonal hiring for the Christmas shopping season.

The national unemployment rate is 10 percent.

The latest Montana jobs report does not take into account the closure of Smurfit-Stone Container’s linerboard plant in Frenchtown and the resulting loss of about 400 jobs.