SANDPOINT - Bonner County wages continued to increase in 2007, but at a lower rate than in previous years and lower than the state average, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

While Bonner County's 2007 wages increased 1.6 percent from 2006, wages statewide increased by 2.6 percent. 2007 is the most recent year for which data is available, according to IDL officials.

In addition, in 2007, the average local worker earned $489 more than in 2006, while the state average increased by $836.

The year-to-year increase in wages from 2006 to 2007 falls well short of the 5.71 percent jump the county saw from 2005 to 2006, which can be attributed to the timber industry's recent economic freefall, said Kathryn Tacke, regional labor economist with the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor.

Tacke said decreased overtime work in the construction and manufacturing industries combined with the timber industry's negative growth in 2007 played a major role in the slowdown in wage increases.

The timber industry's poor economic showing does not look to turn around any time soon, according Tacke, who called it one of the longest, deepest periods of low lumber prices in recent memory.