POST FALLS - Stuck on 11 in 2011.

Kootenai County's unemployment rate remains in the 11 percent range as it has all year.

The county's rate fell to 11 percent in September, down from 11.7 percent in August, according to a report released on Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor. The last time the rate was below 11 percent was December 2010 when it was 10.8.

Post Falls' Larry Black, who was recently laid off from his construction/landscaping job and signed up for unemployment on Friday, said he's expecting a rough work climate this winter.

"I'm hoping to get on as a taxi cab driver just to pay the bills through the winter," he said. "There's some hit-and-miss jobs that are under the table, but they're few and far between."

Black said he hears about people fleeing North Idaho to find work, but after living in this area for 25 years he knows wintertime is always difficult.

"Tough it out," he said. "Get used to it. This is our life. It is what it is, and the more people we get in the world the harder it's going to get."

Job seeker Alan Duncan of Post Falls said he attended a job fair at Real Life Ministries this week and the situation was grim.

"There were hundreds of people looking for jobs, but (employers) were just taking applications, not hiring," Duncan said. "It's really tough. I come here (at the Labor office) every day."

Duncan said he's looking for a simple job just to pay the rent.

Duncan said when some large corporations move to the area, they're not as big as they're cracked up to be as far as providing jobs. In some cases, most of the positions consist of transfers from within the company.

Black doesn't believe the cost of living and doing business - from gas prices to grocery bills - helps the job situation either.

"If gas prices dropped, maybe companies could hire more people," he said. "That's what's driving the country into the recession."

Alivia Body, Labor's regional economist, said most of the local job losses from August to September occurred in leisure and hospitality with 500 less jobs. Meanwhile, with educators going back to school in September, local government added 1,400 jobs.

"Local government offset the losses in the private sector," said Body of the reason for the county's jobless rate decline.

Some observers believe the jobless rate will continue to drop, mostly due to unemployment benefits expiring between now and the end of the year.

Coeur d'Alene's rate increased to 11.8 percent last month from 11.4 in August, while Post Falls' decreased to 12.6 from 12.7.

Idaho's rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 9 percent. The nation's rate was 9.1 percent.

It was the first time Idaho's rate has slipped below the national rate since November 2010. Prior to that time, Idaho's unemployment rate had been below the national rate for more than nine years.

But even though Idaho's jobless rate has fallen three-quarters of a point over the last 10 months, it has been at or above 9 percent since the beginning of 2010. The rate was 9.5 percent in September 2010.

The number of Idaho workers without jobs in September fell to just over 68,000, the lowest since February 2010. But The Conference Board, a business think tank, still reported that there were nearly four unemployed Idaho workers for every job opening listed in September.

Nearly 24,000 unemployed workers collected $22.9 million in jobless benefits during September - $10.2 million in regular benefits and $12.7 million in federal extended benefits. That was down from more than 31,000 workers collecting $35.9 million in benefits during September 2010. More than 11,800 workers have exhausted all benefits without finding jobs.

Post Falls' Dawn Geren said she's been looking for a customer service job for about a year. Meantime, she's trying to make ends meet with an in-home insurance position.

"I've put in applications all over," she said. "If I ever get a job, I'm going to keep it."

Geren's mother, Lola Geren, said she has a sales job at Center Partners. There's turnover and jobs available at the company, she said, because there's a lot of pressure to make sales during the recession.

Lola said she has contemplated jobs with less stress, but there's not much shaking. Therefore, she's staying put.

"It's not easy out there," she said.