County's jobless rate for June 11.4 percent

Unemployment in Flathead County and elsewhere in Northwest Montana remains stubbornly high.

In the latest figures for June released on Tuesday, Flathead County’s unemployment rate was pegged at 11.4 percent — a slight drop from 11.5 percent in May.

Figures from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry show that of Flathead County’s labor force of 44,626, there were 39,544 people with jobs and 5,082 who were unemployed.

June represented the eighth month in a row that Flathead County has had double-digit unemployment, dating back to November 2009.

A year ago, the unemployment rate for June was 9.6 percent, with 4,746 people unemployed and 44,893 people working out of a Flathead County work force of 49,639.

High unemployment was evident elsewhere in Northwest Montana during June.

Lincoln County’s 15.5 percent jobless rate was the highest in the state.

Sanders County had a 14.3 percent unemployment rate and Mineral County was at 10.4 percent. Lake County’s jobless rate was 9.5 percent.

County figures are not adjusted for seasonal employment.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for June was 7.3 percent, up from 7.2 percent a month earlier.

The state’s unemployment rate has climbed steadily from less than 4 percent at the start of the recession in 2007. The current rate is the highest the state has seen since the 1980s, when unemployment rose above 8 percent.

The national unemployment rate currently stands at 9.5 percent.

Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly said that Montana’s economic recovery has slowed down since the first quarter. But he says some employment sectors saw small gains and the number of unemployment claims has continued to decrease.

The estimates of employment change showed mixed results for the month of June.  The estimate for the total number of Montanans who are working, including agricultural, payroll, and self-employed workers, indicated a small job loss of 250 jobs, while the estimate for private payroll employment indicated no change.  However, the not seasonally adjusted job estimates showed employment gains of 4,200 jobs, while the number of unemployment claims filed with the Montana Department of Labor has continued to decrease.