It’s not the cost but the opportunity – Montana’s economic growth will depend on factors other than low-cost ranking.

It is, at first glance, a compelling statistic: Montana is the fourth-cheapest state in America in which to do business. So says the Milken Institute, an economy-focused think-tank. According to its recently published "Cost-of-Doing-Business Index," it costs nearly 20 percent less than the national average to do business in Montana, a whopping 63 percent less than highest-cost Hawaii.

Surely here’s an economic indicator the state can put to good use attracting jobs from all the other, more expensive states.
Right.

As is so often the case, there’s a lot less to this ranking than meets the eye.

Full Story: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/08/31/opinion/opinion4.txt

Related Story: 2005 Cost of Doing Business Index – Montana 47th, Idaho 46th http://www.matr.net/article-15596.html

***********

Montana’s wages still lowest

Associated Press

HELENA – Montana’s average wage per job remains the lowest in the country, but state salaries are still ahead of inflation, and unemployment is below the national average for the fourth straight year, a report released Tuesday shows.

The annual average wage in Montana was $27,833 in 2004, nearly $12,000 lower than the national average of $39,348 for the same year, labor officials said in the 12th annual Profile of the Montana Worker report by the state Department of Labor and Industry.

The report, issued yearly since 1994, is an effort to summarize Montana’s economic condition by looking at such barometers as jobs, unemployment, income and wages.

This year’s figures show Montana’s average salary, while the lowest in the country since 1999, has risen faster than the cost of living since 1995. Utilities workers earned the highest average salary in the state last year at $58,435 followed by mining workers at $54,080. Workers in accommodations and food services earned the least at $10,920 on average.

The report shows Montana’s unemployment rate, at roughly 4.4 percent, continues to sit well below the national average of 5.0 percent and has avoided the fluctuations reported nationally over the past four years.

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/08/31/build/state/50-wages.inc