Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · MT NONMETROPOLITAN AREA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Montana unemployment rate held at 3.2% in August 2026
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — August 2026 state unemployment release, published Sept 18, 2026
This Month's Takeaways
Montana led nation in 2025 wage growth at 5.4%
Bureau of Labor Statistics / Montana LMI — OEWS wage growth comparison, 2024-2025
Hospital employment rose 900+ jobs in 2025, largest since 2016
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — Montana Labor Day Report 2026
Mining employment fell nearly 13%, driven by Sibanye-Stillwater closure
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — Sector employment trends, 2025-2026
Local Economic Conditions
County-level unemployment rates ranging from 1.4% to 10.1%
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — County-level labor market data, lmi.mt.gov
Looking Ahead
58,000 Montanans excluded from labor force due to childcare/underemployment
Montana Labor Day Report — Workforce participation analysis, 2026
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison