News Release
STUDY REVEALS KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF MONTANA’S AVAILABLE LABOR SUPPLY
12/6/2002
Meta Boyer
406-444-5665
meboyer@state.mt.us
AVAILABLE LABOR SUPPLY
December 6, 2002 – Helena – According to research conducted by The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, about 40% of Montana’s civilian labor force is interested in potential employment opportunities, particularly in management or technical consulting firms, and engineering research firms. Many are also interested in training for information and computer technology fields. The 188,300 Montanans open to new employment opportunities are least interested in outbound telemarketing.
“These survey results will be key to our business recruitment and retention efforts,” said Governor Judy Martz. “This information will help us to focus on those companies that match the qualifications and employment desires of Montanans.”
The study of Available Labor Supply in Montana’s Rural and Urban Labor Markets was designed to provide prospective businesses with additional labor market data that is not available in traditional labor market studies. Specifically, traditional labor market data focuses only on the unemployed population – which equates to only about 20,000 Montanans – when workers may be willing to change jobs or acquire additional jobs at certain levels of pay or within particular distances from their homes.
“For businesses thinking about locations in Montana, this data is imperative to their decisions. We have always known that there are Montanans that are underemployed or willing to make employment changes, but we haven’t known how many Montanans fit this category. Now, we can show businesses that we have far more than 20,000 potential workers for their companies – we have over 188,000 people in our available workforce,” said Dave Gibson, Chief of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.
The study results provide a statewide prospective on available workers, and data for particular areas of the state. Each of the seven major urban counties (Flathead, Cascade, Missoula, Lewis & Clark, Yellowstone, Gallatin, Silver Bow and Deer Lodge (combined)) was considered a labor market, as were Montana’s rural West, rural Northeast, and rural Southeast regions.
Copies of the report are available through the Montana Department of Labor and Industry’s Research and Analysis Bureau, 406-444-2430.
-30-
