POST FALLS — Kootenai County's unemployment rate in May was 4.4 percent — three-tenths lower than last year at this time and a reflection of the jumpstart on seasonal jobs due to the recent warm weather, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

Labor released its monthly jobless report on Friday that also showed an unchanged local rate from April.

"One factor is that we had an unseasonably warm spring, which meant that a lot of the seasonal jobs started up earlier than they usually do," said Sam Wolkenhauer, a Labor economist who works in the agency's Post Falls office. "This is something that we saw across the country. April job growth was a bit stronger than expected, and May was a bit weaker.

"Over the summer I expect the unemployment rate to stay roughly where it is, perhaps dropping from the current 4.4 percent to something closer to 4 percent."

Wolkenhauer said local employment and the labor force both decreased by about 300, which reflect the changes typically associated with the end of the school year.

He described the local economy as "quite healthy."

"Idaho’s rural counties are struggling quite a bit, but Kootenai has had sustained growth as the urban hub for North Idaho," he said. "I believe there is room for some strong construction growth. If that happens, we could see our unemployment rate press down toward 3 percent as has happened in the Boise area."

The state's unemployment rate also remained unchanged in May from April at 3.7 percent, according to the report. Last year at this time it was at 4.2 percent.

The national rate dipped three-tenths of a percent over a month ago to 4.7 percent in May. Last year the national rate was 5.5 percent at this time.

Over the year, Idaho ranked third highest in the nation with 3.2 percent non-farm job growth, the report states. Five of the 10 industry sectors in Idaho experienced increases of 3 percent or higher with job growth in construction leading the way at 8.9 percent. Natural resources was the only industry to see a decrease in jobs over the year — down 7.5 percent.

Month to month, Idaho’s seasonally-adjusted non-farm payrolls declined slightly by .3 percent, following a national report for May that also found job growth below expectations.

Gains in construction, information, financial activities and other services were offset by weaker-than-expected performance in manufacturing, wholesale trade, health care and social services, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services.

Total employment for Idaho grew by more than 1,800 to 779,500 as the number of unemployed Idahoans increased by 50 people to 29,880. This is the first month total unemployment has increased since June 2015. Idaho’s seasonally adjusted labor force increased by 1,900 to 809,400.

Idaho’s labor force participation rate — the percentage of people 16 years and older with jobs or looking for work — was 64.1 percent in May, up slightly from April’s 64 percent.

Among Idaho’s 44 counties, 22 had unemployment rates above the state rate. Madison and Franklin counties experienced the lowest rates in the state at 2.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. Shoshone County had the highest rate at 6.6 percent.