Jobless rate dips sharply during April

Flathead County’s unemployment rate decreased in April to 6.6 percent.

That represents a sizable decline from 8.2 percent in March, according to figures released Friday by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. The Flathead jobless rate was 9 percent in January.

In April, Flathead County had 2,892 people unemployed out of a work force of 43,993.

Other counties in Northwest Montana also showed improvement. The unemployment rate for Lake County was 6.4 percent, down 2 percentage points from March; Lincoln County’s rate dropped from 16.1 to 13.4 percent; and Sanders County showed significant improvement, dropping from 14.8 to 10.9 percent unemployment.

Montana’s unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points in April to 4.8 percent, marking the first time in five years the state’s unemployment rate has been below 5 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate also posted a large decline of 0.4 percentage points to 6.3 percent.

“Montana has added nearly 10,000 jobs since the start of the year; a sign that Main Street businesses are feeling confident and workers are back on the job,” Gov. Steve Bullock said in a press release.

Labor Commissioner Pam Bucy said she’s pleased that Montana’s unemployment rate is back to pre-recession levels.

Total employment, which includes payroll employment plus agricultural and self-employed workers, added 1,403 jobs in April to bring the total job growth since the start of 2014 to 9,881 jobs.