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Hill County jobless rate dips

John Kelleher Havre Daily News [email protected]

Hill County's unemployment rate continues to drop. A total of 5.2 percent of the work force was jobless in August, according to figures released by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. That compares to an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in July and 5.8 percent in June. The figures released on Friday show once again that the jobless rate locally trails behind the statewide figures, which are far behind the national average. In Montana, the seasonally adjusted rate was 6.6 percent, down .1 percentage points from July. Nationally, 9.7 percent of t h e w o r k f o r c e wa sUnemployed, a 0.3 percentage point increase. "Montana cont inues to weather the national recession," Montana Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly said. "The August figures indicate job gains across most industries, with a large job gain in (the) government sector that is possibly due to spending of stimulus funds." Since the recession started in December 2007, Montana has lost 0.9 percent of its jobs, Kelly said. Nationwide, 5 percent of the jobs were lost since the recession began, he said.

 

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