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Idaho jobless rate continues to drop |
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March 25, 2012 |
Idaho employers increased payrolls slightly in
February, driving the seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate down a tenth of a point to 8
percent, the seventh straight monthly decline
and the lowest rate since September 2009.
Goods producers added jobs during a month when
they normally scale back while the increase in
the service sector jobs fell just short of the
average over the last five years.
Businesses hired over 11,000 new workers for the
third month in a row, exceeding February hires
by 2,000 to 3,000 for the previous three
Februarys, and nearly half of the new hires were
for new jobs created since January.
Another 2,100 more workers were on the job in
February, pushing total employment to nearly
715,000 and marking the eighth month in a row
employment has risen. The number of new jobs
created in February was less than 1,000 short of
the average during the expansion that led up to
the recent recession.
Total jobs have run ahead of year-earlier levels
for 12 of the last 14 months and were over 1
percent higher in both January and February.
Although jobs remain at 2005-2006 level, gains
over the last year clearly indicate Idaho’s
economy is recovering from the worst recession
since World War II. Total jobs ran below the
previous year for 30 months in a row during and
after the recession.
The decline in the jobless rate when the
national rate held steady in February at 8.3
percent also dropped the number of workers
without jobs below 62,500, the fewest unemployed
Idahoans in 28 months. February marked the 125th
month – over 10 years – that Idaho’s
unemployment rate has been lower than the
national rate.
Just over 35,000 workers were paid $35.3 million
in state and federal unemployment benefits
during February, a 20 percent decline from
February 2010 when 44,500 jobless workers
received $44.7 million in benefits.
Idaho’s unemployment rate has fallen nearly a
full percentage point since peaking at 8.9
percent during the final months of 2010, and the
weekly payout of regular state benefits is
running $1 million less than a year ago. Renewed
optimism among workers about the prospects of
finding work has increased the state labor force
eight straight months to a record 777,000.
The surge in the labor force – 10,000 since the
beginning of 2011 – has increased competition
for available jobs. According to The Conference
Board, there were 3.6 unemployed workers for
every posted job in February, up from 2.9 in
December, but well below the five jobless
workers per posted job in late 2009.
Only 10 rural Idaho counties posted unemployment
rates in double digits, down from 11 in January.
Caldwell was the only city or metropolitan area
in double digits at 10 percent. Forty of the 44
counties recorded lower rates in February than
January and two were unchanged. Only Lewis
County at a tenth and Boise County at
three-tenths posted increases from the previous
month.
In Boundary County, the February, 2012,
preliminary unemployment rate was 11.2-percent,
down from 11.6-percent in January and
12.8-percent from February, 2011. Out of a local
civilian labor force of 4,594, February found
4,0081 working and 513 unemployed.
Adams County with the highest rate at 13.2
percent was down two full points from January.
The lowest rate was 4.3 percent in Franklin
County. Nine more counties had rates under 6
percent compared to just six counties under 6
percent in January. |
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