COEUR d'ALENE - The Idaho unemployment rate has declined, but so did the statewide labor force with thousands of workers poised to exhaust their jobless benefits.

The state Department of Labor says Idaho's workforce last month diminished for the first time in a year.

Idaho employers hired at normal levels for June, but did not create any new jobs.

And at the same time, a bill to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed was defeated in Congress. The state's labor department says that likely discouraged hundreds of workers who dropped out of the labor force.

Downtown shop owners said business has been steady with the start of summer, but not quite enough to increase staffing.

"We're not setting any barn-storming records, but we are consistent, and that makes all the difference in the world," said Dave Patterson, owner of Java on Sherman.

Kootenai County's jobless rate was 10 percent in June, up from 9.1 in May, and 8.3 percent a year ago in June 2009.

June's unemployment rate was 8.8 percent, which is down from 9 percent in May but still higher than at any other time since June 1983.

More than 41,000 checks for a total of $11.3 million in state and federal benefits were distributed to jobless workers in Idaho during the first week of June. Those numbers dropped to less than 31,000 checks for $8.1 million this past week.