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Jobless rate hits 6-year low

BRIAN WALKER/bwalker@cdapress.com | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 8 months AGO
by BRIAN WALKER/bwalker@cdapress.com
| June 21, 2014 9:00 PM

POST FALLS - Kootenai County's unemployment rate in May dropped to 5.1 percent, the lowest it has been since June 2008, according to a report released Friday by Idaho Department of Labor.

The number decreased four-tenths of a percent from April.

"We are seeing signs of returning to typical seasonal patterns," said Alivia Metts, Labor regional economist.

"The reason for the drop is a multitude of factors, including a decline in labor force, decline in number of unemployed, decline in initial claims and an increase in number of job openings."

Metts said most of the jobs posted were in health care, support services/call centers, arts/recreation/entertainment and forestry/farm labor.

"I think the market will continue to bode well for job seekers, especially in health care and seasonal employment," Metts said. "The unemployment rate will hold steady through the third quarter, but will most likely inch up heading into the winter months, again returning to typical seasonal patterns. I think we're at a healthy rate, returning to pre-bubble levels."

The rate in Coeur d'Alene remained unchanged at 4.8 percent, while the number in Post Falls fell from 5.5 to 4.9.

Statewide, the jobless rate fell a tenth of a percent from April to May to 4.9. The nation's rate remained unchanged at 6.3. Idaho's rate has been below the nation's for more than 12 years.

Idaho businesses hired at or just below their May average for the past five years, maintaining Idaho's steady economic recovery and driving the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate below 5 percent for the first time in nearly six years, according to the report.

Total employment increased another 1,000 from April to May, eclipsing 741,000 for the ninth record in as many months.

That was enough to accommodate the entry of 2,000 more workers into the labor force, holding the state's labor force participation rate at 63.8 percent of all residents older than 15. Job generation by Idaho employers pulled another 1,000 workers off the unemployment rolls, dropping the number of jobless workers below 38,000 for the first time since July 2008.

With over 15,000 more people working this May than last, the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent was 1.5 percent less than in May 2013.

Idaho's economy has added 29,000 jobs since January, and total employment has risen every month since mid-2012. Financial services, real estate, information, health care, natural resources, mining, hotels and restaurants all generated jobs at just above the five-year average for May. Manufacturing, retail trade and transportation maintained the average, and only business services, private education services, construction and government fell short of their five-year performance.

Only four counties - Jefferson, Jerome, Owyhee and Power - saw jobless rates increase from April to May, but all 44 counties posted declines in unemployment from May 2013. Clearwater was the only county with a double-digit percentage unemployment rate at 10 percent. The last time the state saw only one county in double digits was July 2008.

Eighteen counties had rates higher than 4.9 percent, down from 21 in April and 39 in May 2013. The lowest rate was 2.4 percent in Franklin County, and that was up a tenth from April's rate.

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