Jobless rate best in 20 years
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January 24, 2014 |
More Idahoans found jobs in December than in any
other month in 20 years, pushing total
employment to a record 728,600 and the
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to
5.7 percent, its lowest level in over five
years, but the news isn't all good.
In Boundary County, the jobless rate fell to 8.8
percent in 2013, down from 10-percent in 2012
and 12.7-percent in 2011, but the news isn't all
good; like much of the state, a primary cause of
the reduced numbers is local workers leaving the
area to find employment, primarily to the oil
fields of North Dakota.
Preliminary estimates by the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics showed nearly 3,800 Idaho
workers found jobs in December, the largest
single-month increase since January 1994. That
surge dropped the unemployment rate four-tenths
of a percentage point, matching the jobless rate
in October 2008.
Idaho’s unemployment rate has dropped a full
percentage point since October, reducing the
ranks of the unemployed by more than 7,300 as
the labor force expanded slightly in December.
Employers across the state maintained payrolls
at over 645,000, the highest December level
since the end of the expansion in 2007.
Employment and unemployment figures for 2013 and
2012 will be reassessed by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics over the next two months, and
possible revisions will be released in March.
The plunge in the jobless rate last fall dropped
the average annual unemployment rate to 6.3
percent for 2013, eight-tenths of a point below
the 2012 average and the lowest annual rate
since 2008.
The year-end improvement in Idaho’s employment
picture widened the distance between the state
and national jobless rates to a full percentage
point, the biggest gap since last June. The
national unemployment rate fell three-tenths of
a point in December to 6.7 percent. Idaho’s rate
has been below the national rate for more than
12 years.
Employment services, call centers, private
education, other services like car repair and
government at all levels made up the limited
number of economic sectors where employers fell
short of maintaining payrolls at the average
level of the previous five years. New hires to
fill both new jobs and existing openings totaled
12,100, just short of the December totals in
both 2012 and 2007 when the recession began.
Overall, Idaho’s economy had 2.2 percent more
jobs in December than a year earlier while the
nation ran 1.6 percent ahead of December 2012.
Despite the jump in employment, the percentage
of Idahoans over 16 in the labor force in
December remained at 63.9 percent for the third
straight month. That is the lowest rate in 32
years, primarily reflecting the initial exodus
of baby boomers from the workplace. December’s
statewide labor force, however, was still 2,000
lower than a year earlier. The national
participation rate fell two-tenths to 62.8
percent in December.
Historically, Idaho’s labor force participation
climbed as high as 70.9 percent in October and
November 1998 from a low of 63.9 percent in
January 1982.
The number of workers without jobs in December
fell to 44,000, over 23,000 below the recession
peak in September 2010. With the decline in
unemployed has come a significant reduction in
unemployment insurance benefits. In December
$14.1 million in state and federal benefits were
paid to an average of 13,200 idled workers a
week, down 38 percent from $21.4 million paid a
year earlier to over 21,000 workers a week.
Federal extended benefits ended in December.
For the year, total state and federal benefits
of $192 million were paid to an average of
12,300 workers a week. That compared to benefits
totaling $299 million paid to a weekly average
of 21,200 during 2012.
Despite the dramatic decline in the statewide
rate, 10 of Idaho’s 44 counties posted increases
in their rates from November, and a half dozen
more were unchanged. But all five metropolitan
areas saw their rates decline.
Oneida County’s jobless rate slipped to 2.9
percent for the lowest in the state while only
three counties – Clearwater, Shoshone and Adams
– had double-digit percentage rates.
Clearwater’s was the highest at 11 percent,
unchanged from November.
Twenty-seven counties recorded rates below 6
percent, up from 25 counties in November. |
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