Montana Business Resources Division Programs Adjust Wage Requirements for Economic Development Grants

Effective January 1, 2014, the Montana Department of Commerce’s Primary Sector Workforce Training Grant (WTG) Program and the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund (BSTF) Program have adopted new qualifying wage requirements for applicants to the programs. The WTG and BSTF Programs use the most recent county average wage data and the new statewide minimum wage released by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry to calculate the qualifying wage that must be paid to potentially receive an award from these programs.

Additionally, the BSTF Program also utilizes the most recent poverty data for determining a "high-poverty county", which is defined by statute as a county in Montana where 14% or more of the people of all ages are in poverty as determined by the US Census Bureau estimates for the most current year available. The statute governing the BSTF program allows for a higher award amount per job and a lower match requirement for counties that are designated as high-poverty.
The WTG Program encourages the creation of jobs in primary sector businesses and provides grant funds to train full-time and part-time workers in net new jobs. The BSTF Program assists basic sector businesses to create net new eligible jobs that result in good-paying jobs for Montana residents. In order for a job to qualify for financial assistance under these two programs, the business must create a net new job that pays a wage that meets or exceeds the lesser of 170% of Montana’s current minimum wage or the current county average wage.

The new county average wage data is available on the WTG website located at ( http://www.wtg.mt.gov) and the BSTF website ( http://www.bstf.mt.gov). The poverty map is also available on the BSTF website.

For additional information, please contact Nancy Faroni, Section Manager at [email protected] or (406) 841-2744.

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