Letter to the editor: Montana needs economic development

Letter to the Editor,

Some of Montana’s elected officials discuss how great our economy is compared to other states across the nation. This tends to be predicated on the fact that Montana’s unemployment rate is 1.5 percent less than the national trend, but I think that is a really weak argument and along the same lines of saying it is the desert with the most rainfall - in the end, it is still a desert. 

Montana’s unemployment rate is currently at 5.3 percent as of January, but in places with tremendous opportunity for jobs and resource development, like foresting counties such as Lincoln and Sanders County, there is 18 percent and 16.1 percent unemployment, respectively. It is sad to see places that were once home to a robust logging industry to now be hampered by such an economic drought. These numbers are even on the optimistic side, because so many of these county residents have left the workforce entirely because the jobs simply are no longer there. 

Representative Daines said on the radio the other day that Montana exports three things: our cattle, our grain and our kids. This situation is what Washington, D.C., needs to address. By promoting policies that encourage development in areas ripe with potential for natural resource development, Washington and Montana’s leaders can help keep jobs in Montana and not need to export our children. Daines’ work on the Restoring Healthy Forests and Healthy Communities Act can help bring these jobs to Montana, which would help keep our children in state and bring down the unemployment in places like Lincoln and Sanders County. 

Tammi Rose

Marion, Montana