This projection takes into consideration the opening of a new pasta plant in 1997 in Great Falls. The decline may be related to instate sugar refining, milk processing and other food manufacturing becoming less competitive. Other nondurable manufacturing subsectors are projected to increase over the 1996-2006 time period. The largest increase is anticipated for printing and publishing , projected to grow by about 500 jobs, followed by chemicals , with a projected increase related to the 1998 opening of the Advanced Silicon Materials plant in Butte, and the planned start-up of an ethanol plant in Great Falls about the year 2000. Wholesale Trade Jobs Wholesale trade , which primarily provides services to businesses, is projected to increase by about 2,400 jobs.
More growth is anticipated for the durable goods component of wholesale trade than the nondurable.
The mining sector, which includes energy minerals, metals, and nonmetallic minerals, is projected to decline by about 300 jobs between 1996 and 2006. Projected declines in oil and gas mining employment as part of a forecasted national decrease, is the primary reason for the Montana mining employment decline. Work on constructing the mine began in 1998. The operating workforce for this mine is estimated at 600, which will more than counterbalance the anticipated closure of the Pegasus gold mines and possibly the Golden Sunlight mine in Jefferson County. Production agriculture has experienced employment declines for many decades.