Montana Economist Highlights 2024’s Top Stories

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Patrick Barkey with the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research was on the KGVO Talk Back show this week and shared his top economic stories in the state for 2024.

In no apparent order, Dr. Barkey began by touting the state’s economy in 2024, which led to a drop in the personal income tax rate for Montanans.

Dr. Barkey Began By Praising the Drop in the Personal Income Tax Rate

“There was the decline in the income tax rate,” began Dr. Barkey. “It came down to 4.9 percent. It's been a pretty big change, and we're also down to two brackets now for income. St. Vincent's (Health Care) in Billings, second largest healthcare provider in the state announced that they're building a brand new hospital and it should be almost a billion dollars, one of the largest construction projects in the state.”

Barkey said two other topics made his top ten list for 2024.

A Failed Canal System and the U.S. Election Also Made His Top 10 List

“There was also a failure in the canal system on the High Line near the Milk River, which is made the river run dry at various times last year,” he said. “That's a serious, serious issue for irrigated agriculture in that part of the state. Another event for the Montana economy that got plenty of ink, but let's talk about it anyway, was the U.S. election, and the fact that we're talking about a brand new administration, new directors of the Departments of Interior and Energy, with huge implications for Montana.”

Barkey pointed out important business closures in 2024.

"We had some closures here in Missoula County, with Roseberg and with Pyramid Mountain Lumber, which is really impacting the logging industry, trucking industry," he said." "It's affecting all kinds of things. We had some significant layoffs at Stillwater (Mining) out in south central Montana, due to the depressed price of palladium. They laid off 700 folks, all who earned six-figure incomes."

Barkey Pointed Out the Drastic Decline in Medicaid Enrollment

Another headline topic Barkey mentioned was the upcoming state legislature and the question of Medicaid expansion, with one startling statistic.

“We've had the expiration now of the Medicaid expansion, and one of the things that's happened in Medicaid, which that's hard to get out in one breath of air, but I'll just say that Montana has lost more Medicaid enrollees Since 2020 than any other state in the country. So we've had a 12 percent reduction since 2020 of the number of people on Medicaid."