BBER PUBLICATIONS SEARCH RESULTS

Statewide Economic Performance: Consumers Lead Strong Bounce Back By Patrick M. Barkey
The Performance of the BBER Forecast: Forecast Relatively Accurate Despite Economic Shocks By Derek Sheehan
Montana's Regions and Cities: Pre-COVID Growth Patterns Reemerge By Patrick M. Barkey
State Revenue Report: Montana Tax Revenue Very Strong By Terry Johnson
Major Economic Events of 2021: Montana Bounces Back By Patrick M. Barkey

Overcoming the Pandemic: With the welcome news of real progress on the deployment of an effective COVID-19 vaccine and the conclusion of a bitter political election comes a tentative new optimism for the economy in 2021. IHS Market, a global forecasting company, now projects a return to the U.S. economy''s pre-pandemic growth path by the end of 2021, a significant revision from the more pessimistic assessments being made last summer.

The unprecedented declines in economic activity due to the pandemic have not spared Montana.

As states reopen their businesses, what does the future hold for jobs and the economy?

Financial markets have been interrupted and workers are being furloughed. When can we expect a recession?

The U.S. economy continues to move into positive territory and the unemployment rate is at a near historic low. But is a recession coming in 2019?

Conclusions from a Headwaters Economics report on timber-dependent communities in Idaho are incorrect ? analyzing the wrong variables and using the wrong statistical test.

What will be the economic impact of the early retirement of Units 3 and 4 of the coal-fired Colstrip Electric Generating Station?

This study examines the implications of closing Units 3 and 4 of the Colstrip Electric Generating Station early. Specifically, we examine the consequences for jobs, income, population, economic output and other measures of economic activity.

If you travel across the state and talk with Montana?s employers, you will hear frequent complaints about their difficulty finding workers.

While women now participate equally in the wage economy and earn a majority of all bachelor''s degrees, this has not led to financial equality. Women do not share equally in the economic well-being of the state.

To say that the behavior of the economy deviated from normal during the 2008-09 recession would be an understatement. The downturn was long and severe, and it left no county in Montana untouched. For the third consecutive year, the nation's economy has stumbled at mid-year.

There are more than 36 million people with a disability in the United States, accounting for almost 12 percent of the total civilian non-institutionalized population. In Montana, the proportion with a disability is greater. Thirteen percent (125,302) of the civilian non-institutionalized population in Montana has a disability. Working age adults with a disability, those 18-64 years of age, comprise over half of the disabled population in Montana and nearly 11 percent of all working adults in this age group. With continued increases in the cost of health care and an increase in the number of working-age Montanans with disabilities as a result of the aging baby boom generation, the federal and state share of spending to support this population represents a large and faster growing share of all federal and state expenditures. The aging of the baby boom generation is expected to contribute to growth in Social Security Disability Insurance awards for at least another decade. In Montana, federal government payments for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income alone totaled more than $469 million in 2010, up 5 percent from 2009, and almost 10 percent from 2008.

It certainly has been a trying time for the Montana economy. The state remains in the grip of its worst recession since the 1980s, and news of closures and layoffs is depressingly easy to find. Yet it is also apparent that a long-awaited recovery in the economy has begun to take hold.

This report details the findings of a comprehensive evaluation of labor force availability in the 11 counties of north central Montana. During the summer and fall of 2008, researchers at The University of Montana''s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) surveyed a random sample of adults in Blaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Glacier, Hill, Judith Basin, Liberty, Phillips, Pondera, Teton, and Toole counties to assess the labor force status, availability, training preferences and other characteristics. The purpose of the project was to construct and present a more comprehensive assessment of labor force status and availability than can be obtained from the employment and unemployment statistics gathered regularly by state and federal statistical agencies. The emphasis was on those in the adult labor force who are receptive to new job opportunities. This includes both the under- and the unemployed.

Our basic finding is that there are a substantial number of individuals currently working who report themselves as willing and available for new job opportunities. Statewide, there were almost 261,000 adults who could be classified as available for new job opportunities.