County jobless rate climbs to 18.1 percent; rise 2.6 percent

While Montana’s state unemployment rate again dropped by 0.1 percent to 6.5 percent in January, marking six straight months of decreases, joblessness in Lincoln County has ballooned to 18.1 percent, up from 15.5 percent from January numbers.

Lincoln County continues to lead the state in unemployment figures, with nearby Sanders County coming in a close second at 17.6 percent and Big Horn County third at 14.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment also has been receding since August, decreasing 0.2 percent to 8.3 percent in January.

Here in Lincoln County, 6,253 people are employed of a work force consisting of 7,635, leaving 1,382 jobless or 18.1 percent, according to state labor officials.

“Montana’s economy continues to improve with stronger and more deliberate job growth,” said Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly.  “We continue to have a positive outlook for 2012.”

Payroll employment estimates indicated small job growth of about 500 jobs over last quarter’s average.  Total employment estimates, which include payroll, self-employed, and agricultural workers, indicated slightly more job growth, adding about 800 jobs over last quarter’s average. 

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 points in January, with the price increases widespread across all goods.  The index for all items less food and energy (also called core inflation) increased by 0.2 percent. 

Each February, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recalculate the employment estimates for the prior year in a process called benchmarking.  

The benchmarking process makes employment estimates more accurate, in addition to smoothing the data series.  Benchmarked data is usually released with the January employment data.  

However, DLI is currently working with the BLS to resolve concerns with the 2011 benchmark.  The benchmarked employment numbers for 2010 and 2011 will soon be finalized and will be included in the March 30 press release. 

Unemployment figures are seasonally adjusted.  Seasonally adjusted numbers remove the effects of events that follow a more or less regular month-to-month pattern each year. 

These adjustments make nonseasonal patterns easier to identify. The margin of error for the unemployment rate is plus or minus 1.0 percentage points at the 90 percent confidence level.