Nonagricultural employment has been on a sharp upswing since 1991. And the county's population has also shown strong recent growth. Manufacturing, transportation and public utilities, and the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors have shown little, if any growth. Construction has had an uptick, probably stemming from Spokane workers willing to commute in order to live in a rural area. While agriculture is the force behind the economy, the biggest provider of jobs in Lincoln County is government.
Public employees constitute well over half of all nonfarm employment.
The bulk of government is at the local level, and the bulk of that is involved with K-12 education. Growth in public employment has not been spectacular but it has been steady, and it provides a measure of stability to the county's work force and economy. Income in the county has an unusual twist. Much of that concentration is in the agricultural community. Of earnings, the largest component of income, over a third of the total went to farmers and farm workers.