Kootenai County jobless rate 4.3 percent
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 9 years, 5 months AGO
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
POST FALLS — Kootenai County's unemployment rate in March was 4.3 percent — a tenth of a percent lower than February, according to an Idaho Department of Labor report released Friday.
The total number of employed residents in the county was 71,179 and the number of unemployed was 3,201.
A year ago, the county's jobless rate was 5 percent.
Among local cities, Coeur d'Alene's rate is 4.2 percent, two-tenths of a percent lower than February and nine-tenths lower than a year ago. Post Falls' rate is 3.9 percent, a tenth lower than February and seven-tenths lower than last year.
Month over month, the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had a 2.6 percent increase in job growth.
Kootenai County's unemployment rate is sandwiched between the state's rate of 3.5 percent and the nation's number of 4.5 percent.
The state's rate is down a tenth from February.
"March marks the 78th straight month of over-the-year labor force gains," the report states, referring to the state data.
"However, preliminary numbers for March show Idaho’s first labor force month-to-month decline in two years with a decrease of 600. With 500 fewer Idahoans unemployed and 600 fewer Idahoans in the labor force, the monthly decline in both unemployment and labor force helped lower Idaho’s unemployment rate …"
Year over year, Idaho’s nonfarm payroll job growth remained strong with an increase of 2.7 percent, or 18,700, from the previous March.
Job increases were spread among most of Idaho’s industry sectors with the largest gains in construction at 3,000 jobs, or 7.4 percent, and education and health services at 3,300 jobs, or 3.3 percent.
Idaho’s labor force participation rate — the percentage of people 16 years and older with jobs or looking for work — dropped slightly to 64 percent, down from February’s 64.1 percent.
More than 23,600 Idaho jobs were posted online in March according to the Conference Board, with 4,200 of those positions classified by department analysts as "hard-to-fill."
Health care-related jobs accounted for 14 percent of Idaho’s hard-to-fill jobs and include physicians, surgeons, psychiatrists, occupational and physical therapists, and support positions. Registered nurses and truck drivers maintained their perpetual first and second spots for the largest number of hard-to-fill jobs based on the volume of listings.
Six counties experienced jobless rates above 6 percent, including Clearwater, 9 percent; Adams, 7.1 percent; Shoshone and Lewis, 7 percent each; Benewah, 6.9 percent; and Lemhi, 6 percent.