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Over-the-year job growth continues to top nation |
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March 28, 2017 |
Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
for February held steady at 3.6 percent while
the state continued to lead the nation in
over-the-year job growth for the sixth
consecutive month.
An additional 2,100 people were added to Idaho’s
labor force - the largest January to February
increase since 2005. The state’s labor force
growth was exceeded by February’s employment
growth of 2,200 leading to an overall decline of
more than 100 people counted as unemployed.
Year over year, Idaho’s nonfarm payroll jobs
increased 3.6 percent, or 24,000, from the
previous February - the fastest in the nation.
Those additional jobs in Idaho’s economy were
spread among most of Idaho’s industry sectors
with the largest gains of 10.4 percent in
construction and 6.3 percent in financial
activities. Manufacturing, along with trade,
transportation and utilities, saw the smallest
year-over-year growth at 1.2 percent each.
Month to month nonfarm job growth went unchanged
in February from January’s total of 712,900 as
seasonal declines in manufacturing and trade,
transportation and utilities offset gains in
Idaho’s remaining sectors.
The state’s labor force participation rate – the
percentage of people 16 years and older with
jobs or looking for work – climbed to 64.1
percent, up slightly from January’s 64 percent.
There were more than 20,200 online postings for
Idaho jobs in February according to the
Conference Board. Of those postings, 4,300 were
classified by department analysts as
hard-to-fill.
Health care-related jobs accounted
for 14 percent of those hard-to-fill jobs and
include physicians, surgeons, psychiatrists,
occupational and physical therapists, and
support positions. By volume, registered nurses
and truck drivers maintained their perpetual
first and second spots for the largest number of
hard-to-fill jobs.
Annually, unemployment insurance benefit
payments were up 9.9 percent - from $3.3 million
a year ago to $3.6 million for February of this
year - while the number of claimants dropped by
6.8 percent to 11,700 from a weekly average of
12,000 a year ago.
Among Idaho’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA),
Boise experienced the strongest seasonally
adjusted over-the-year growth with 12,700 jobs,
or 4.2 percent, followed closely by Lewiston
with a 3.2 percent increase of 900 jobs.
Month over month, a job decline of 300 from both
Boise and Idaho Falls MSAs was offset by the
1,300 increase from Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston and
Pocatello. The net increase of jobs among
Idaho’s five MSAs was 1,000. The Idaho Falls MSA
reported the lowest unemployment rate of all
MSAs at 3.1 percent.
Twenty-two of Idaho’s 44 counties had
unemployment rates above the state rate. Madison
County continued to experience the lowest
unemployment rate at 2.2 percent. Six counties
experienced rates above six percent: Clearwater
(7.5 percent), Shoshone (7 percent), Adams (6.4
percent), Lewis (6.1 percent) and Benewah and
Lemhi (6 percent).
Details on Idaho’s unemployment picture can be
found at http://lmi.idaho.gov/. |
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