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With unemployment rates as low as two percent in the eight states bordering the Rocky Mountains, businesses aren't able to find enough workers to fill positions.

The overall unemployment rate in the eight states on average was at an all-time low of 3.4 percent in May.

The reasons given for the labor struggles in the Western states concern demographic changes.

Trends show baby boomers and retirees have been swarming to places like Montana because of the picturesque natural beauty and views, along with recreational opportunities. That has created a booming market for the construction industry to build new homes which provides higher paying jobs.

Along with the growing number of seniors moving in, younger people have left the area searching for larger paychecks. That leaves an aging workforce not able to meet the job market demands in the area.

In Montana there has also been a slow reaction to the problem, and businesses had been slow to raise wages to entice people to stick around. Now businesses, which have historically paid lower wages than the rest of the country are finding themselves having to pay higher wages to compete. Montana now has the third-fastest growing wage rate in the U.S.

"This is actually the biggest economic story of our time, and we don't quite grasp it because it is 15 years in the making," said economist Larry Swanson, director of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.

The area doesn't look like it's going to get relief any time soon either. It projected that for Wyoming and Montana by 2030 they'll have 26 percent of their populations 65 or older. Nationally the average is expected to reach 19.7 percent.

Some studies have shown that the labor crunch in most areas wasn't supposed to start happening until about 2012, as we see here, it's already in the process.

We definitely need to look at ways to combat potential labor shortages before they become a major problem. Some companies in the fast food industry have even outsourced their drive-thru window business to telemarketing firms in other states because they simply can't find enough people to work.

Who would've thought that an influx of people to an area would result in worker shortages? The reason was because young people are moving out of the area while older people move in who either aren't working or working less hours than they used to.

This is an area of the country that is a bellwhether of what is to come. It needs to be watched and learned from on how they handle the situation.

Something to keep in mind, is there will definitely be wage increases and possible outsourcing costs added to the cost of doing business in the not too distant future.

This is something we can't put off planning for and having contingency plans in place. It is already on some places of the country, and it won't be long before it spreads to others.