County Ranks 49th In State For Unemployment Rate

Roosevelt County has dropped into a tie for 49th place for Montana counties as far as unemployment rate.

The county now has an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent which is tied with Blaine County.

Mineral County has the state’s highest unemployment figure at 5.9 percent. Other counties with higher unemployment rates than Roosevelt are Big Horn at 5.4, Lincoln at 5.3, Glacier at 5.3, Sanders at 4.7 and Rosebud at 4.5 percent.

Roosevelt County Commissioners point out that there are jobs available in the county if people want to be employed.

They noted the county itself if looking for employees for the jail, health department, aging department and road department.

“Pretty much all our departments have job openings,” Commissioner Gordon Oelkers said.

In addition, the east side of the county has an oil industry that keeps increasing activity. A proposed fertilizer plant may also be in the county’s future.

The five Montana counties with the lowest unemployment rates are Fallon at 1.7, Daniels at 2.0, Meagher at 2.0, Powder River at 2.0 and Mc-Cone at 2.1 percent.

Other eastern Montana counties include Garfield in eighth place at 2.3, Valley in ninth place at 2.4, Sheridan in 11th place at 2.5, Richland in 24th place at 3.0, Dawson in 27th place at 3.1 and Phillips in 45th place at 4.1.

Gallatin County 4,161 more jobs than a year ago. Next high is Lewis and Clark County with 829 more jobs. Madison County has 869 fewer jobs than a year ago.

The reservations with the lowest unemployment rates are Flathead at 4.4 and Fort Peck at 5.4 percent. Northern Cheyenne ranks seventh at 10.8 percent.

Montana’s unemployment rate remained at 3.1 percent in July, while the national rate rose to 4.3 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

“Many businesses across Montana are providing good-paying jobs across our state. We’ll continue to cut red tape, lower taxes, and invest in a stronger workforce to make Montana an even better place to live, work, start a business and raise a family,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a press release.

The state’s unemployment rate of 3.1% in July continues a record of 37 consecutive months with the rate at or below 3.4 percent.