Economist says Montana oil counties among fastest growing economies

The "oil boom" in eastern Montana is propelling some counties there past western and urban counties in terms of economic growth, reversing a long trend, a University of Montana economist says.

Paul Polzin, director of the university’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said that traditionally western counties such as Ravalli, Flathead, Gallatin and Missoula had been in the top 10 for economic growth.

But newly released statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show that the fastest non-farm labor income growth from 2003 to 2004 was found in Fallon, Richland and Blaine counties, Polzin said.

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