employment

Montana's rate of unemployment remained at 3.6% in February, still below the national average of 4.4%, the state said. But nearly all counties in western Montana remain higher than the state average and have seen increasing unemployment rates over the past year.

The recently announced major restructure of the U.S. Forest Service may disrupt a number of forestry positions in Idaho. But the details as to how those positions will be affected and what work will continue or be eliminated under the plan remain unclear.

Tucked into President Donald Trump’s new budget request is a plan that could dramatically change — and, critics say, slash — how much money and help states provide to people needing jobs and training.

Economists hope February's job losses, which worsened after the latest revisions, were a one-off and March's gains start a new trend.

The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute calculated women last year earned 18.6% less than men per hour on average. That’s up slightly from 2024, when the wage gap narrowed slightly to 18%.

The generally sleepy economy of the state’s second-largest city is getting a shakeup, thanks to surging employment and incomes.

The loss was partly blamed on nurses strikes in New York City, since health care has been one of the few bright spots in past reports — but many other industries contributed to the unexpected decline.

A state task force is going to be weighing whether current rules for licensing occupations are a good fit for today’s needs.

In January, the U.S. economy added more than double the number of jobs economists had predicted, but revisions slashed job gains for 2025 by nearly 70%.

Darrell Ehrlick (Daily Montanan) Montana’s economy is likely to follow a path similar to 2025, though the chance of a recession is more unlikely in 2026 than previously anticipated, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research said at a seminar this week. Director ...