Montana jobless rate up

The jobless rate for January went up slightly in Montana, reaching 5.7 percent.

Unlike recent trends, the jobless rate along the Hi-Line was higher than the state average.

Both were lower than the national rate, which hit 7.9 percent, up .1 percent, even thouigh more than 200,000 jobs were created.

"Montana's economy has made strong job gains over the last two years, gaining back most of the jobs lost during the recession and adding wages for Montana's workers," said Labor Commissioner Pam Bucy. "The pull-back in federal funding and the expiration of the payroll tax break are expected to slow growth in the next few months, but I am confident that our economy will continue to move forward and add jobs throughout the next year."

Both the payroll employment estimates and the total employment estimates — which includes payroll workers, the self-employed, and agricultural workers — posted small employment decreases from December to January of 500 jobs and 800 jobs respectively, the department said in a press release.

Continued job losses in the public sector offset gains in the health services industry, the department said.

Along the Hi-Line, the jobless rates were:

• Hill County: 6.9 percent were unemployed, 591 people
• Blaine County, 6.8 percent were unemployed, 171 people
• Liberty County, 5.2 percent were out of work, 38 people
• Chouteau County: 4.5 percent were out of work, 107 people.