HELENA – Montana’s unemployment continued to drop in February, moving down 0.3 points to 6.2 percent. The state’s unemployment rate has been declining since August of 2011. The national unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent for the month.
Montana’s economy continues to add jobs in 2012, with more than 1,000 jobs in the last month, said Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly. “The continued decline of Montana’s unemployment rate indicates that our economy performed better during the recession than first thought.”
Total employment estimates, which include payroll, self-employed, and agricultural workers, indicated job growth of 1,200 in the last month, and 6,900 jobs over the last year. Payroll employment estimates indicated smaller job growth of about 500 jobs over the last month.
