POST FALLS - Kootenai County's jobless rate is tumbling down, according to a report released Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor.

The rate fell from 6.4 percent in March to 5.4 percent in April, the report states. The last time the local rate was this low was June 2008 when it was at 5.1 percent. The last time it dropped a full percentage point from the previous month was May 1999.

"With a brighter job market, many job-seekers are becoming more optimistic about their opportunities and we are seeing more movement overall including in-migration," said Alivia Metts, Labor regional economist. "All indicators were rather positive.

"After seeing the movement of people migrating into Kootenai County slow through the recession, the number of interstate licenses surrendered are rising back to 2007 levels. This data is comparable to the rising labor force shown on an annual basis."

Total non-farm employment in Kootenai County increased by about 1,900 - a 3.5 percent increase from the previous month and a 2.4 percent increase from the previous year, according to Labor.

"The largest gains were seasonal in the leisure and hospitality sector with approximately 1,000 more jobs," Metts said. "There was a 14 percent jump in jobs openings from March to April, with most of the activity in health care."

According to Wanted Analytics, a job board which includes all area job openings from a variety of sources, there were 1,624 job openings posted in April for Kootenai County, up from 1,428 the previous month.

"We are expecting to see continued growth, albeit at a modest rate," Metts said, reflecting on the summer months ahead.

Meanwhile, the jobless rate in Coeur d'Alene fell from 5.6 percent in March to 4.8 percent in April. In Post Falls, the number dropped from 6.7 to 5.3.

The state rate fell from 5.2 percent to 5, while the national rate dropped from 6.7 to 6.3.

The last time the state number was at or less than 5 percent was July 2008. All 44 counties had rates less than those posted in April 2013.

"Idaho employers maintained traditional hiring levels in April, continuing the state's economic recovery," a Labor press release states. "The steady pace of job creation - more than 20,000 since January - pushed the economy near its pre-recession job peak, making it possible for the state to reach pre-recession job levels earlier than expected and probably before the end of the year."

It also appeared to bolster optimism about Idaho's economic future, the report states.

More than 1,500 people entered the labor force in April, the largest one-month increase since the beginning of 2010, and the labor force participation rate - the share of Idahoans 16 and older who are working or actively looking for work - rose one-tenth to 63.8 percent. That was the first increase since June 2013 in the participation rate, which has been gradually falling since it peaked at 70.9 percent in October and November 1998.

Employers reported more than 15,000 new hires during April, more than half to fill new jobs. Hiring was slightly above normal in construction and manufacturing, resulting in a quarter of the new jobs being in goods production, which pays about $10,000 a year more, on average, than the service sector. Overall, about 15 percent of Idaho's non-farm jobs are in goods production.

In the major sectors of the service economy, hiring in leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants, was below normal levels as was hiring in other services such as repair, the report states.

Total employment hit another all-time high, reaching 740,000 to mark the eighth-straight monthly record, according to the report. About 14,000 more people were working in April than a year earlier, the largest year-over-year gap since mid-2012.