"Jobless Rate Drags on Montana Economy," Billings Gazette, 11/21/11.

Two years after the Great Recession, Montana faces a historically difficult labor market, with high long-term-unemployment rates and workers wanting more hours than they can get, a new report shows.

Roughly 70,000 Montanans either can’t find work or can’t get the work hours needed to make ends meet, according to The Montana Budget and Policy Center, a nonprofit. Wednesday, the center reported that the state would have to add 25,100 new jobs to get back to prerecession unemployment records.