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# Montana Payrolls Stay Flat as Labor Force Trails 2025
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-montana-2026-09-18-b/
- Published: 2026-09-19T03:45:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-19T03:45:30.000Z
- Description: Montana payroll employment was nearly unchanged in August and unemployment held at 3.2%. Resident employment improved modestly, but the labor force and payroll count remained below August 2025.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, Missouri, Montana

Montana's labor market was nearly unchanged in August: employers added an estimated 100 payroll jobs and the unemployment rate held at 3.2%, while both the labor force and total payroll employment remained below their levels a year earlier.

The state had 522,100 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, compared with 522,000 in July and 527,100 in August 2025, according to the [Bureau of Labor Statistics' state payroll table released September 18](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t03.htm?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The figures are seasonally adjusted and preliminary. The 100-job monthly gain is effectively a flat reading, while the year-over-year decline was about 5,000 jobs, or just under 1%.

Industry results were mixed. Construction and education and health services each added an estimated 600 jobs during August. Leisure and hospitality added 200\. Trade, transportation and utilities lost 500 jobs, professional and business services lost 200, and manufacturing and government each declined by 100.

Over the year, education and health services was the standout, with 1,500 more jobs than in August 2025\. Construction was up 100\. Those increases did not offset declines elsewhere: leisure and hospitality was down 2,400 jobs, government was down 1,200, professional and business services was down 1,100, and manufacturing and financial activities each were down 500.

## Resident employment improved modestly

The household survey offered a somewhat firmer monthly picture. Montana's labor force increased by 177 people in August to 574,642, while the number of unemployed residents fell by 305 to 18,267, according to the [BLS labor-force table](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t01.htm?ref=theamericanquorum.com). The implied count of employed residents rose by 482 to 556,375.

Even with that monthly improvement, Montana had 3,394 fewer people in its labor force than in August 2025 and 2,038 fewer employed residents. The number of unemployed residents was also 1,356 lower than a year earlier. That combination helps explain how the unemployment rate can remain low while the labor force and resident employment are both below year-earlier levels.

The state's 3.2% unemployment rate was unchanged from July and down from 3.4% in August 2025\. The [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Montana series](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MTUR?ref=theamericanquorum.com) provides the longer historical record and identifies the measure as seasonally adjusted.

## What the numbers mean

The payroll and household surveys measure different things. The payroll survey counts jobs at employers and can count one person more than once; the household survey counts employed Montana residents. A small gain in each measure suggests stabilization in August, but neither change is large enough on its own to establish a trend.

Montana's unemployment rate remained below the 4.1% national rate. The [BLS state summary](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm?ref=theamericanquorum.com), however, said rates were statistically stable in 42 states and the District of Columbia in August, and only four states recorded statistically significant payroll gains.

For workers and employers, the practical picture is one of a tight but softer labor market: unemployment is low and health-sector hiring remains a source of strength, but the workforce, resident employment and establishment payrolls all trail August 2025\. The next releases will show whether August's small monthly increases mark the start of a rebound or simply a pause in the year-over-year contraction.