SANDPOINT - Despite a relatively strong manufacturing base and steady construction work, Bonner County's 7 percent jobless rate remains one of the worst in the state.

The county's November unemployment rate marks a slight decrease from October's 7.2 percent, which was the highest the county had seen since 2003, said Kathryn Tacke, a regional economist with the Idaho Department of Labor.

Tacke said she sees no trends - positive or negative - in the immediate future that could drastically swing the county's rate in either direction.

"Nothing happened either way that will severely shift the numbers," Tacke said. "Jobs created for the bypass are probably helping to make up for some of the losses we're seeing in other construction jobs and the timber industry."

High unemployment figures were not confined to Bonner County, as the state saw a record 44,100 workers without jobs in November, marking a 15-year high in the state's seasonally-adjusted jobless rate.

Statewide, the November unemployment rate jumped a half percentage point from October to 5.8 percent, 3.1 percentage points higher than in November 2007. It was the third month this year that the rate has risen a half point. It was the largest rate increase from October to November on record, and only the seventh time in 30 years that there has been an October-November increase.

Despite historic jobless numbers, Tacke said statewide figures pale in comparison to several communities in Bonner County.

Tacke points to Priest River, which lost 200 jobs in October after one of the town's largest employers, JD Lumber, closed its mill there.

"There are a lot of folks in Sandpoint who are feeling the pain right now, but Priest River in particular is just enduring a really difficult time," Tacke said.

The Department of Labor does not track unemployment figures for towns the size of Priest River, but Tacke said it is likely the town's rate exceeds 10 percent.

The economic struggles that communities like Priest River are wading through will most likely get worse before they get better, Tacke said.

"This is going to be a hard period," she added. "I wish there was there were a lot of really hopeful signs out there, but there just aren't."