The last couple of years have been tough for a whole lot of folks. Chances are, unless you're really, really old, this was your first global pandemic and most of us had no clue how to navigate through it all. For many of us, it seems the waters are still rough, especially when it comes to employees.

That certainly seems to be the case for many Montana businesses.

During the height of the Covid crisis, many Montanans lost their jobs as many local businesses struggled to stay afloat, so once things returned back to normal, there wouldn't be a problem finding folks to fill those empty slots, right?

Get our free mobile app

Actually...it has been much more difficult than we thought it would be. In fact, Montana ranks near the top in states that are having the most difficulty finding employees. According to WalletHub, here's a look at the numbers when it comes to Montana.

  • Job openings rate during the latest month: 6.70%
  • Job openings rate in the past 12 months: 7.78%
  • Overall rank: 9th biggest hiring struggle in the country
Source: WalletHub

So is it a regional thing, or just a Montana thing? Looking at the data, it seems to be more of a Montana thing. While Montana ranks 9th for struggling to hire employees, Idaho is ranked 32nd, Wyoming is 28th, South Dakota is 18th, and North Dakota is 34th.

Canva
Canva
loading...

Several business owners will say that it's just hard to find decent help and "people don't want to work anymore" while many locals will blame low wages and high cost of living.

So who's right?

Maybe both. It seems that workers have more rights and freedoms than ever before as more and more businesses look for creative ways to accommodate the needs of the modern-day Montana employee. From benefits to paid time off, the ball certainly seems to be in the employee's court.

LOOK: States with the most people earning $1 million or more

Stacker examined Internal Revenue Service tax return data to see which states had the highest share of people who earned $1 million or more in 2019.

LOOK: The 25 least expensive states to live in

Here are the top 25 states with the lowest cost of living in 2022, using data Stacker culled from the Council for Community and Economic Research.

QUIZ: Can you identify 50 famous companies by their logos?

How well do you know the logos of 50 of the world's most famous companies? Keep scrolling to see if you can guess which icon belongs to which brand.

More From K99