Idaho Jobless Rate
Slips Below National Rate in September
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October 29, 2011 |
Hiring across the Idaho economy in September
fell just short of levels during the mid-2000
expansion, but it was enough to drive the
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down
two-tenths of a point to 9 percent. It was the
first time Idaho’s rate has slipped below the
national rate since last November.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 9.1
percent in September. But even though Idaho’s
jobless rate has fallen three-quarters of a
point over the last 10 months, it has been at or
above 9 percent since the beginning of 2010. The
rate was 9.5 percent in September 2010.
Prior to November 2010, Idaho’s unemployment
rate had been below the national rate for more
than nine years.
The number of Idahoans working last month was up
1,500 from August, ending a three-month slide in
total employment. The gain in nonfarm jobs was
just a few hundred below the average during the
expansion years between 2003 and 2007 and above
the month-to-month increase in 2010.
In Boundary County, 705 workers were unemployed
for a 14.2 percent unemployment rate, an
improvement over August, when the rate was at
15.4 percent. The rate last September stood at
16.9 percent, with 826 local workers out of
work.
Employers reported hiring over 17,000 new
workers in September to fill new jobs and
replace retirees and others. That was over 81
percent of the average number of September new
hires during the economic expansion of the
mid-2000s, the highest ratio for any month since
2008. Nondurable manufacturing, transportation,
food service and education all posted job gains
higher than their expansion averages while
construction, business services, restaurants and
hotels held their own with the expansion era.
September marked the second month that current
job totals exceeded those of the same month a
year earlier. September at 612,100 nonfarm jobs
was two-tenths of a point higher than September
2010. Revisions for August put that month a
tenth of a point higher than a year earlier,
marking six of the last nine months running
ahead of 2010 job totals. The economy is on a
course to average more jobs this year than in
2010, breaking a three-year slide through the
recession that cost Idaho 60,000 jobs.
The number of workers without jobs in September
fell to just over 68,000, the lowest since
February 2010. But The Conference Board, a
business think tank, still reported that there
were nearly four unemployed Idaho workers for
every job opening listed in September.
Nearly 24,000 unemployed workers collected $22.9
million in jobless benefits during September –
$10.2 million in regular benefits and $12.7
million in federal extended benefits. That was
down from over 31,000 workers collecting $35.9
million in benefits during September 2010. Over
11,800 workers have exhausted all benefits
without finding jobs.
Twenty-seven of Idaho’s 44 counties recorded
lower unemployment rates in September than in
August while just 14 saw rates rise. The same 16
primarily rural counties that posted
double-digit unemployment rates in August were
still in double digits in September.
Two major urban counties remained in
double-digits, but the rates in both Canyon and
Kootenai counties were down from August.
Adams County recorded the highest jobless rate
in September at 18.9 percent, up over two full
points from August, while Oneida County had the
lowest rate at 5 percent, down six-tenths from
August. Four counties had rates under 6 percent
in July, up from three in August.
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