Local jobless rate up to 7.8 percent

by The Daily Inter Lake
| January 28, 2014 9:00 PM

Flathead County’s unemployment rate climbed half of a percentage point in December, increasing from 7.3 percent in November to 7.8 percent.

The county has a work force of 41,854 people, with 3,257 unemployed workers.

Lincoln County, which doesn’t have as much seasonal ski-season visitor traffic as Flathead County to buoy the work force, had nearly a 2 percent jump in unemployment, from 13.5 percent in November to 15.4 percent to end the year.

Sanders County, another area with a stubbornly high jobless rate, also posted a sizable increase in unemployment from 11.6 percent in November to 13.5 percent in December.

Lake County’s unemployment rate increased from 7.4 percent to 7.9 percent.

Montana’s statewide unemployment rate has held steady at 5.2 percent for the past three months, ending the year a half of a percentage point lower than at the start of the year.

The national unemployment rate continued to fall in December, moving down 0.3 percentage points to 6.7 percent.