Idaho, Kootenai County jobless rates improve

Employers across Idaho's economy maintained payrolls at higher levels than typical for October, pushing Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down another two-tenths of a point to 8.8 percent, the lowest level in nearly two years.

Kootenai County's unemployment rate dropped from 11.1 percent in September to 10.5 percent in October.

It was the second straight month that Idaho's jobless rate has been below the national rate, which fell just a tenth of a point to 9 percent. Unemployment in Idaho has declined six-tenths of a percentage point in the last three months and eight-tenths from the record 9.7 percent in December through March.

The number of workers with jobs rose 2,300 from September to 692,700. It was the second largest one-month employment increase since November 2006. The largest was 3,200 in April during an economic growth spurt that sputtered as summer arrived.

Unemployment fell to 66,400, the lowest level in 22 months. The decline of 1,700 is the second largest monthly decrease in unemployment on record. The 1,900 decline in September was the largest, and combined, September and October rival the drops in unemployment during the fall of 1983, a year after the end of the severe double-dip recession of the early 1980s.

The number of Idahoans in the labor force also rose modestly from September, breaking a three-month slide and suggesting some renewed optimism about job opportunities.

Still the number of workers without jobs remained higher than at any other time before the 2007-2009 recession and job creation remained limited.

Over 23,000 unemployed workers collected $22.6 million in jobless benefits during October - $10.4 million in regular benefits and $12.2 million in federal extended benefits. That was down from 32,000 workers collecting $34.1 million in benefits during October 2010. Over 12,200 workers have exhausted all benefits without finding jobs.

Employers hired 14,400 new workers during October, nearly all of them to fill vacancies on their existing payrolls. That was 15 percent higher than in either 2010 or 2009 but 20 percent below the average number of new hires in October during the expansion between 2002 and 2007.

The Conference Board, the business think tank, reported there were still 3.5 officially unemployed workers for every posted job opening in the state during October, and that did not include the several thousand discouraged workers and nearly 50,000 workers with part-time jobs who want and need full-time work.

The number of jobs in the Idaho economy during October slipped below the October 2010 level after exceeding the previous year totals during August and September. But with some retailers indicating they plan holiday season hiring this year after declining to add many workers the past two years, Idaho could end 2011 with an average of about 300 more jobs than it had in 2010. That would be the first time since 2007 that current year jobs exceeded the previous year.

Jobs in manufacturing appear to have finally stabilized, albeit at 1991 levels, and the composition of the sector seems to be shifting away from production to research and development, potentially limiting future payroll expansion as demand for various products rises.

Job losses in construction, the other sector hit hardest by the recession in Idaho, have also bottomed out, leaving construction employment at the more sustainable job levels of the mid-1990s.

Combined losses in construction and manufacturing totaled nearly 36,000 jobs of the 60,000 stripped from the Idaho economy by the recession.

Twenty-eight of Idaho's 44 counties recorded lower unemployment rates in October than September while only 14 counties saw rates increase. Fifteen primarily rural counties that posted double-digit unemployment rates in September were still in double digits in October. Clark County slipped below 10 percent in October to 9.7 percent.

Canyon and Kootenai counties, the two major urban counties that have been in double digits for more than a year, each posted substantial declines to fall below 11 percent in October.

Adams County continued to have the highest jobless rate at 18.8 percent, unchanged from September, while Owyhee County had the lowest rate at 5 percent, down two-tenths from September. Three other counties - Oneida, Franklin and Bear Lake - also had rates under 6 percent up from three in September.