County jobless rate up

After Kootenai County's jobless rate fell for several straight months, it turned upward in March to 6.8 percent, according to a report released this morning by Idaho Department of Labor.

The rate is up from 6.6 percent in February.

"The number of unemployed had dropped 3.7 percent from 6,739 in July 2012 to 4,822 in March," said Alivia Metts, regional labor economist.

Idaho’s rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged in March at 6.2 percent, the result of the continuing decline in the labor force and caution on the part of the state’s employers.

Nationally, unemployment dropped another tenth of a point in March to 7.6 percent. The national rate remained above the state rate for the 138th month — 11 and a half years.

Only three of the state’s 44 counties posted double-digit unemployment rates in March – Shoshone (10.3), Benewah (10.5)and Clearwater (12.5).

Another 1,400 people left Idaho’s labor force in March, the largest one-month exodus since the heart of the recession three years ago and the third straight monthly decline, according to the report. More than 2,600 people have dropped out of Idaho’s labor force since December 2012, leaving it at more than 772,000 and erasing any gains made since January 2012 when the economy was struggling to begin its recovery.

 Idaho employers hired 13,000 workers in March for both new and replacement jobs — about 500 fewer than they hired in March 2012 and well below pre-recession hiring levels. While March’s job creation was about twice the average during the past five years, it was below normal economic times, much less a robust recovery.

 As a result, total employment fell for the second month in a row, dropping more than 600 to 724,500.