EDITORIAL: Flathead's dynamic job market

Flathead County has jobs — plenty of them — but unfortunately lots of local employers are finding it hard to find workers, even though the county’s unemployment rate is hovering at 4.6 percent.

A story on today’s front page details the robust economy that has given local workers their best shot at finding a good job in many years. In fact, the Flathead Job Service had 1,089 jobs listed on Friday, and some employers are plum desperate.

That’s meant higher wages, bonuses, referral fees — whatever it takes to fill vacancies.

And that 1,089 jobs doesn’t represent all the jobs available in the Flathead, by any means. Many companies rely on paid advertising and/or social media instead of listing openings with the Job Service.

Of course, lots of people are still looking for work as well, but it’s not always easy for employers to match job openings with available workers. Some employers mentioned that workers recently laid off from Weyerhaeuser’s mills or from jobs in the Bakken oil fields have salary expectations that outpace most local jobs. In other industries, the number of trained workers in a particular field simply isn’t enough to meet the demand.

Here at the Inter Lake, we’ve seen a variety of jobs go unfilled for various lengths of time this summer. Right now, we are in the market for a proofreader who also has strong customer-service skills and the ability to work with a variety of software programs. It’s a narrow niche that is waiting for just the right person. (Call 758-4447 if you think that’s you!)

We are curious how many people in the local market are those folks referred to as “discouraged workers” — folks who gave up looking for jobs after a long search — and thus aren’t even included in unemployment numbers any longer. We encourage anyone reading this who fits that description to reconsider their options. The perfect job may be waiting just for you.