Help wanted signs dot businesses across Montana. Employers in many industries have noted their struggle to find workers. State unemployment rates have dropped to pre-pandemic levels, and data shows around 16,000 workers are currently needed to fill vacant positions in Montana. The shortage isn t new. This 2018 article from Montana Business Quarterly lamenting the lack of employees could have been written yesterday.
Yet, some Montanans are having difficulty finding work, like Leah Ford. We sat down with Leah for a few minutes this week and her story is pretty incredible. You can listen to the podcast below or click here.
Leah has submitted over 170 job applications since November.
Montana One of Best-Paying States for Recent College Grads
A new survey from Self.inc reveals that Montana could be the Treasure State for many new college graduates, with only one other state in the U.S. having a higher average pay for recent grads.
Using the latest earnings data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and cost of living data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the report showed recent graduates working full-time in North Dakota had the highest median earnings in the country at $53,751.
Montana is the second best-paying state in America for recent grads, after adjusting for the cost of living, with a median earning of $51,337. Compare that to New Mexico, which is one of the lowest-cost states to live in, who had a median earning of $36,224 per year for recent college graduates.
at least if the republicans do what they say they will and submit a bill to open keystone up, short order, he will veto it. no ifs, ands or buts about it. this time they say a lot of drillers are opting out because oil has got son cheap that it s costly so cheap that it s gotten costly. snapshot as if oil prices were going to stay low forever. they have done the poorest job of selling this deal that i ve ever seen. this deal should have been easier than selling ice water in haiti. you have 42,000 jobs that would have been created by the state department s own estimation you have jobs in north dakota, jobs in montana and it would have helped put our place as an energy, self-contained energy provider, it would have helped to cement that. all we ve had is rhetoric, and it s really been mindless retd ring, we don t know the impact