Tracking Idaho's Unemployment Rate

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Do you remember Idaho’s unemployment rate just as the recession was being noticed? It was three percent.

The National Bureau of Economic Research said the great recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. So, since those declarations, Idaho’s unemployment rate climbed to its peak of 9.7 percent in December through March 2010.

While most states have seen unemployment drop since the end of the recession in 2009, Idaho is among the handful that have watched unemployment rise.

Mike Ferguson, Idaho’s former chief economist, said it’s painful to acknowledge the reality of the state’s predicament. “Idaho is characterized by having turned down earlier and deeper,” he said, “and it’s turning around more slowly than other states.”

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May 17, 2013

Idaho’s Labor Force Drops To Two-Year Low, Jobless Rate Unchanged

Wells Fargo representative Josh Plummer talked to dozens of would-be call center workers at a recent job fair in Boise.

Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed at 6.1 percent in April as the state’s labor force continued to shrink. The Idaho Department of Labor reports 1,300 people left the workforce last month. That’s four straight months of labor force decline. Idaho’s workforce is now at its lowest level in two years. The Department says more [...]

May 16, 2013

Federal Sequester Turns Idaho Employment Workers Into Job Seekers

Job seekers line up at a recent Idaho Department of Labor job fair in Boise.

In the next couple of months, many employment office workers in the northwest will join the unemployed. State labor agencies are having to make cutbacks in staffing. It’s due to a combination of the economy getting better and federal budget cuts known as the “sequester” setting in. Staffing at the local employment office usually moves [...]

April 19, 2013

Idaho’s Unemployment Rate Holds Steady As Labor Force Shrinks

Idaho's housing sector has shown signs of improvement, but the March jobs report attributes the the state's flat jobless rate to a contracting workforce.

Idaho’s jobless rate remained flat last month, at 6.2 percent. The Idaho Department of Labor’s monthly report says the rate is holding steady despite anemic hiring because of an ongoing decline in the size of the state’s workforce. Total employment fell by about 600 people in March, even as employers hired about 13,000 workers, according [...]

March 28, 2013

Some Idahoans Will See Their Jobless Benefits Cut

Some Idahoans receiving unemployment insurance payments will see their benefits cut by more than 10 percent. The Idaho Department of Labor says the federal budget cuts, called “sequestration,” that went into effect at the beginning of this month triggered a 10.7 percent reduction in those unemployment benefits. Unless Congress acts, the benefit payment cuts could [...]

March 22, 2013

Idaho’s Jobless Rate Ticks Down As The Labor Force Shrinks

The February jobs report from the Idaho Department of Labor follows trends we’ve seen over the last few months. February’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down one percentage point to 6.2 percent, but that decline is due to a shrinking workforce. The Labor Department says private sector employers hired more people than usual last month, [...]

March 15, 2013

Idaho’s Jobless Rate Stagnant, Workforce Shrinks

Idaho’s January jobless rate didn’t change from December. It remained at 6.3 percent according to the Idaho Department of Labor. December and January’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.3 is a four-year low, but Idaho’s workforce isn’t adding jobs as expected. The Department says Idaho’s labor force actually declined in January.

March 6, 2013

For Young People, College Degrees Cut Unemployment

StateImpact has reported on Idaho’s high rate of youth unemployment. We’ve also pointed out that unemployment rates vary according to workers’ educational backgrounds. So a post from Catherine Rampell at The New York Times‘ Economix blog that compares the unemployment rates of high-school-educated twenty-somethings to their college-educated peers caught our eye. Rampell writes: [T]he unemployment [...]

March 1, 2013

Revised Data Show Idaho Didn’t Create Many Jobs In 2012

Job seekers wait in line to speak with potential employers.

Data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Idaho’s 2012 jobless rate was lower than expected. The average annual rate was revised down three-tenths of a percent to 7.1. That’s a significant decline from 2011′s average rate of 8.3 percent. The revised data show the number of jobless Idahoans dropped below 50,000 [...]

February 11, 2013

Job Cuts Continue At The Idaho National Lab

Job-cutting at the Idaho National Laboratory continues. The Post Register reports more than 100 INL employees voluntarily left their jobs last week as the lab’s contractor deals with “budget constraints”. The contractor [Battelle Energy Alliance] in charge of INL announced in December it would lay off at least 300 employees, citing budget concerns, increased daily [...]

January 18, 2013

Idaho’s Jobless Rate Reaches Four Year Low

San Francisco Career Fair Helps Military Veterans Find Jobs

The Idaho Labor Department today released December jobless figures, showing the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in nearly four years. December’s rate dipped to 6.6 percent, down from 6.8 percent in November. Unlike previous monthly jobless reports, this one signals stronger hiring. “The labor force expanded, albeit just fractionally, for the first time since last [...]