POST FALLS - Kootenai County's unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in September - the lowest the number has been since December 2007, according to a report released Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor.

"The job market has been looking brighter," said Alivia Metts, Labor regional economist.

The local rate dropped seven-tenths of a percent from August.

According to Help Wanted Online, there were 1,530 full-time job openings in Kootenai County in September. Health care, office and administrative support occupations and sales positions remain the top-employing job categories.

Idaho's unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percent to 4.5 in September - the lowest it has been since May 2008. Last year September's unemployment rate was 6 percent.

The nation's rate in September dropped to 5.9, which is down two-tenths from August.

September marked 13 full years that Idaho's jobless rate has been less than the national rate.

Employers across most Idaho sectors scaled back hiring in September, but still generated another 3,800 jobs, just below September's 10-year average, according to the report. New hires, primarily to fill existing job openings, approached 20,000, the highest September level since 2006.

Total employment remained essentially unchanged from August at just more than 741,000, while the number of workers without jobs fell below 35,000 for the first time in more than six years, essentially accounting for the decline in the labor force.

Nearly 2,100 workers left the statewide labor force - many likely returning to school - making September's labor force decline the largest one-month drop since February 2010, the report states.

The state's labor force participation rate - the percentage of working-age adults working or actively looking for work - fell to 63.3 percent, the lowest level since August 1976.

Since the series of severe recessions between 1980 and 1986, Idaho's labor force declined only one other time between August and September - in 2013, the report states. Total employment also rose markedly from August to September in every other year, except 2008 to 2010 during the recession.

Construction, manufacturing, hotels, restaurants and bars maintained employment levels slightly higher than normal for September, but the rest of the economy slipped against the five-year average. Service sector jobs, which pay an average of $12,000 a year less than goods-production jobs, edged up three-tenths of a point to 84.5 percent.

None of Idaho's 44 counties saw unemployment rates reach double digits during September. Franklin County was the only county where unemployment rose between August and September - from 2.4 percent to 2.6 percent. Six counties had rates less than 3 percent, the lowest in Oneida at 2.5 percent. May of 2008 was the last time six or more counties experienced rates that low.

Clearwater County had the highest unemployment rate for September at 7.6 percent, but was still down 1.4 percentage points from August.

In addition to the six counties below 3 percent, another 21 counties and all five metropolitan areas had rates less than the statewide rate of 4.5 percent.