POST FALLS — Kootenai County's unemployment rate has dropped to the brink of rare territory.

The number decreased one-tenth of a percent in November to 3 percent from October, according to an Idaho Department of Labor report released on Friday.

The rate has only fallen below 3 percent once in the past 30 years — in the spring of 2007, when it briefly fell to 2.9 percent.

"This is a historically low level of unemployment for us," said Sam Wolkenhauer, Labor regional economist.

Wolkenhauer said the rate decrease reflects about 250 new jobs that were added. He didn't know what the breakdown is by sector for those positions as those statistics are released on a quarterly basis.

Out of Kootenai County's labor force of 77,870, 2,364 were unemployed.

The county's jobless rate was 3.6 percent a year ago.

Wolkenhauer said he doesn't see any reason to be concerned about the area’s economic health in 2019.

"Unemployment is very low, which is making it difficult for employers to find workers, but we’ve had a vibrant 2018 with steady job expansion and building activity," he said. "The unemployment rate may fluctuate a bit — perhaps rising back toward 3.5 percent — but this is still a very healthy labor market. Any rate down in this range is healthy."

Wolkenhauer said if there is a slight uptick in the rate that should not be any cause for alarm.

"We are still expecting healthy growth in Idaho in 2019," he said.

Over the past year, Kootenai County had a 3.4 percent increase in jobs (2,200).

The county's jobless rate is sandwiched between the state's number of 2.6 percent and the nation's rate of 3.7 percent. Idaho's rate has been at or below 3 percent for the past 15 months.

The state’s labor force — the total number of people 16 years of age and older working or looking for work — was 854,243, increasing by 0.1 percent and essentially unchanged since July.

Total employment increased by 1,198 to 831,851, while the number of unemployed people decreased by 433 to 22,392.