County unemployment stuck on 11 percent

Kootenai County's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 11 percent, down from 11.1 percent in February, according to a report released today by the Idaho Department of Labor.

The state's rate remain unchanged at 9.7 percent, the fourth straight month the rate has been at a record high.

Kootenai County is one of 19 counties that posted double-digit unemployment rates.

The counties with the highest unemployment rates include: Valley, 16; Clearwater, 15; Shoshone, 14.6; Boundary, 14.3; and Benewah and Adams, 14.1.

Idaho’s latest unemployment report reinforced new figures showing the state had more jobs during the first three months of this year than during the first quarter of 2010, and normal seasonal employment trends appear to be returning. The last time current-month jobs exceeded year-earlier totals was March 2008.

 March unemployment insurance payments, while still extremely high, were 31 percent below last year’s levels at $43.5 million with the number of claimants down 24 percent to just over 41,000.

Department analysts believe a stabilizing unemployment rate combined with year-over-year job growth offers evidence that Idaho’s economy is moving toward recovery, albeit slowly.

The same general pattern occurred during the last severe recession of the early 1980s when unemployment stabilized for three months at a then-record high 9.6 percent and year-over-year job growth resumed about the same time.

According to The Conference Board, a New York-based think tank, that there were more than four unemployed workers for every job opening in Idaho, down slightly from an all-time high of nearly five idled workers for every job in late 2009.