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Montana's economic recovery will be slow, according to an economist speaking at a seminar on the topic today.

"Montana's New Energy Frontier: What are the Prospects?" is being presented today at the Bozeman Best Western GranTree.

Economist Patrick Barkey predicts a slow economic recovery in Montana. He says the state had a great recession but not a great recovery. He says economic growth in Montana was slower in 2011 than in 2010 but adds there is still growth.

Paul Polzin, director emeritus of BBER, predicts 2-3 percent economic growth per year in Gallatin County through 2015. That would be the highest in Montana and the only major population center in the state to exceed the statewide average.

Barkey says the reasons for that are a resurgence of inflation and the underperformance of some sectors of the economy. Those sectors include health care, government and a stagnant national economy.

"The big news in Montana continues to be the slow recovery from the recession," said Barkey, director of UM's Bureau of Business and Economic Research. "While the 2011 data show some gains, statewide growth in real nonfarm earnings has fallen considerably short of the 2.6 percent increase we foresaw happening a year ago. The Montana economic recovery thus far remains stuck in the starting gate - actually slowing down from the 1.5 percent growth rate of 2010 to register a rather disappointing 0.7 percent growth. The second big story is what's happening in energy in the eastern part of the state with oil and gas, coal and wind."

Barkey and Polzin are presenting the outlook for the national, state and local economies at the bureau's annual Economic Outlook Seminar to be held in nine cities throughout Montana.

KBZK's John Sherer is at the seminar and we will bring you more on this later today.