Flathead jobless rate dips to 8.7 percent

The Daily Inter Lake

Unemployment in Flathead County has dropped below 9 percent.

The Department of Labor and Industry announced that the unemployment rate fell to 8.7 percent in August from 9.1 percent in July.

In Lake County, the unemployment rate held steady from July at 8.4 percent.

In Sanders County, which has the highest jobless percentage in Montana, the rate dropped to 12.2 percent from 12.7 percent. Lincoln County also decreased from 12.2 percent to 11.8 percent.

The lowest unemployment rate in the state - 2.6 percent - is in McCone County in the eastern part of the state.

The state's numbers for individual counties are not adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in the work force.

Montana's statewide unemployment rate - seasonally adjusted - was 6.6 percent in August. That was an decrease of 0.1 percent.

The national unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percent to 9.7 percent.