Blue collar, white collar
SANDERS COUNTY – The ongoing Great Recession began in December of 2007 and took a turn for the worse in September of 2008. The recession caused significant debt, limited prospects for growth and high levels of unemployment.
Last week, the Governor’s Office and the Department of Labor and Industry of Montana released a statement.
For the past three months, Montana’s unemployment rate has held steady at 5.2 percent. That is half of a percentage point lower than at the start of the year and is 1.5 percent lower than the national average. This is not the case for Sanders County.
According to Chief Economist with the Department of Labor and Industry Barbara Wagner, the current unemployment rate of Sanders County is 13.5 percent.
The figures show the labor force of Sanders County at approximately 4,069 people. The employed population is listed as 3,519 people which makes the unemployed population around 550 people.
Sanders County and much of Western Montana was hit harder by the recession than the rest of the state for several different reasons.
“The Northwest region was really hurt by the wood works manufacturing going downhill,” Wagner said. “There were also a lot of construction jobs lost which was a major source of employment in [Sanders County].”
Wagner said there has not been strong improvement in the rest of the state in regards to construction jobs. The difference is the rest of the state was not as dependent on construction as a source of employment.
Other parts of the state are more industrial and less reliant on lumber and construction. There are an increasing number of engineers and entrepreneurs in Bozeman and Billings. The limited variance of jobs is one of the main reasons the unemployment rate in Sanders County is so much higher than the rest of the state.
When the employment rate is lower, the local businesses suffer because community members cannot spend money they do not have. This creates a vicious circle that is difficult to break free from. As a result, Sanders County might be one of the last sections of the state to see improvement.
Even though Sanders County is in a worse predicament than the rest of the state, Wagner believes the improvement of the state will lead to overall progress.
“The good news is Sanders County is not losing jobs anymore,” Wagner said. “Also, several of the surrounding counties are showing signs of improvement and that will eventually spill over.”
Both Flathead and Lake Counties have been steadily decreasing their unemployment rates by one or more percent each year. As of now, both counties are at approximately 7.8 percent.
Sanders County has not seen improvement since this time last year but it is down one percent since 2011. Wagner said it might take some time to see improvement but it appears to be happening elsewhere already.
One thing to keep in mind is the seasonality of employment in the state of Montana. There are always more jobs in the summer than in the winter. The Department of Labor and Industry keeps records of the employment rates every month and the numbers provided above are for the month of December 2011-2013.
This past year, the lowest unemployment rate for Sanders County was 9.2 percent in the month of September. The month of May yielded the second lowest figure at 10 percent. On the bright side, spring is coming and the jobs will too.