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TRANSACTIONS 33 BUSINESS IS PERSONAL 34 Business
Job Openings at All-Time High in Flathead County
With over 900 open positions posted as the busy summer season arrives, worker shortage putting strain on businesses
JBY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
UST IN THE PAST WEEK, A FAST- food restaurant in Kalispell adver- tised a job opening o ering $13
an hour, $5 more than minimum wage. Another restaurant closed at 7 p.m. because it lacked su cient sta to remain open full-time.
While the Flathead County economy has been growing at one of the fastest rates in Montana, many local businesses are feeling the signi cant strain of worker shortages.
“It’s a challenging time for our employ- ers,” said Laura Gardner, manager of Flat- head Job Service in downtown Kalispell.
The local job service has over 900 open positions currently posted, the most ever, Gardner said.
“Never in the history of the Job Ser- vice have we had that many. It’s amaz- ing,” Gardner said.
The openings span a wide range of industries, from construction to manu- facturing and professional services. But the most pressing needs involve tour- ism-related businesses in the service industry, which reaches peak demand in the busy summertime.
“There is a huge need in the service industry,” Gardner said. “It’s an import- ant industry and we’ve got to serve tour- ists while they’re here, but we’re strug- gling to nd people to serve them.”
Flathead County’s economy presents a complicated panorama. On one hand, nearly every aspect of the economy has rebounded at a steady rate since being battered worse than most regions during the recession, and now the Flathead stands alongside mighty Gallatin County as one of the state’s growth leaders.
Crews work on the site of a future Hampton Inn & Suites on the south end of White sh. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Economic development has experienced a noticeable uptick alongside population gains in recent years.
Yet on the other hand, the unemploy- ment rate — 5.6 percent in April — stands out among the highest in the state and above the state average of 4.2 percent and the national average of 4.6 percent. Roughly 2,500 residents were out of work in the Flathead two months ago. The local
labor force — 44,567 — is still 1,900 shy of the all-time high in April 2009.
Barbara Wagner, chief economist for the Department of Labor and Industry, said the valley’s economic makeup lends itself to having a uid labor market.
“In regions like the Flathead that have a lot of tourist activity and construction activity, the normal unemployment rates tend to be a couple points higher because
those industries tend to be highly sea- sonal,” Wagner said. “There is a constant churn.”
Wagner said the Flathead economy added roughly 1,300 jobs in 2015, which was “pretty strong job growth.”
“In comparison to the job growth, the unemployment is still pretty low,” she said.
Wagner said an unemployment rate
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