To see Planet Money's full post, click on the image above.
The good folks at NPR’s Planet Money created this neat visualization of how the jobs we work have shifted over time. The clearest change is in manufacturing jobs. In 1972, they accounted for nearly 24 percent of jobs in the U.S. Now, just 9 percent of workers are employed in that sector. The proportion of jobs in service industries, meanwhile, has grown substantially.
Government jobs hold the top spot, employing more than 16 percent of U.S. workers.
We’ve spent a good deal of time documenting just what people here in Idaho do for work. For example, this county-level map shows whether the private or public sector is responsible for a greater share of jobs.
This story shows Idaho’s top 30 employers, and the extent to which they’ve expanded or cut back since 2005. As it explains, government jobs are at the top of the heap in Idaho, too. “If taken as one entity,” the post says, “the state would finish well ahead of other employers in [Idaho], with about 24,400 employees at the start of this calendar year, according the state controller’s office.”
A passenger checked in at the Boise Airport early this week.
For the last week, StateImpact Idaho has been reporting on recent cuts to flights in and out of Boise. The guiding question: will airlines’ cutbacks affect Idaho’s prospects for an economic turnaround?
Airlines are, of course, responding to broader economic conditions when they determine to stop offering a flight between, say, Boise and Los Angeles. They’re considering the cost of fuel and the demand for service. The chart below gives a sense of just how that demand for flights in and out of Boise has changed over the last decade. Not surprisingly, many routes saw a substantial increase in ridership between 2000 and 2007.
It’s the declines since that time that are particularly telling. Continue Reading →
Amy Robinson is the Chief Marketing Officer at DSA.
One of Idaho’s fast growing companies is Scentsy. They sell wickless candles and personal care products. It’s a direct sales company, meaning independent consultants sell products largely through home parties (think The Pampered Chef).
The Direct Selling Association is a trade group for some of the country’s most well known direct sales companies like Avon, Herbalife and The Pampered Chef. DSA has about 200 members, including four companies based in Idaho (Kyani, Melaleuca, 21Ten and Scentsy). According to DSA, direct sales in the U.S. totaled more than $28.5 billion in 2010.
Amy Robinson is the Chief Marketing Officer at the Direct Selling Association. StateImpact Idaho recently spoke with her about the industry.
Q: How have direct-selling companies grown in the United States? Continue Reading →
The price of oil is the key factor in that projection of lost profits. Oil is now trading at about $107 a barrel. If the price were to spike to $150 a barrel, the AP writes, “the industry’s diminished profit forecast for 2012 could turn to losses of more than $5 billion.” Continue Reading →
On a Monday morning, the Southwest ticket counter at Boise Airport was mostly vacant. The airline recently suspended service from Boise to Seattle, Salt Lake and Reno.
Boise resident C.K. Haun has this routine down. He may live in Idaho, but he’s a senior engineer at Apple. Long before the sun is up, he arrives at the Boise Airport, to catch his regular flight to San Jose. “I can do this by autopilot now,” he says. “Most of the TSA people know me, and we smile and say hi. Every Monday morning, week in week out!”
The State Integrity Investigation gives Idaho a D-.
The latest government transparency report gives Idaho a near failing grade, ranking the Gem State among the ten worst states for transparency in the country.
The State Integrity Investigation gives Idaho an overall grade of D-. The report looks at 14 categories, six of which the state failed. The worst grades went to categories like legislative accountability, executive accountability and ethics enforcement.
You can click through the different categories to get more information on the methodology used for grading. Continue Reading →
Bill Connors believes the local business community can be an asset in retaining -- and even attracting -- important flights.
StateImpact is considering the potential economic effects of the shrinking number of flights in and out of Boise. As we mentioned in a post yesterday, there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last. The Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is targeting the issue through a new travel committee. Early this week, I spoke to Bill Connors, the chamber’s president and CEO.
Q: How much of an issue is air service and flight availability when you’re looking at business recruitment and retention?
A: It’s an issue, and it’s particularly an issue for Boise because we’re one of the remotest metro regions in the nation. Continue Reading →
A spokesman for the state controllers office says creating a transparency website is a priority, but so far there's no funding.
Yesterday, StateImpact published a story about Idaho’s last-place finish in a government transparency study. In it we noted that Idaho was one of only three states that didn’t respond when the study’s initial findings were sent to government officials, requesting comment. It was the Department of Administration’s Bill Burns who received that survey. He wasn’t available yesterday, but answered a couple of questions this afternoon. Continue Reading →
Frontier Airlines recently announced it won’t resume service between Boise and Denver this spring. Early this year, Southwest discontinued its flights from Boise to Seattle, Salt Lake and Reno. An American Airlines affiliate has cancelled its service from Boise to Los Angeles. The net effect is that there will be 20 percent fewer seats leaving Boise this summer than last. What does that mean, as the city and state hustle to attract new businesses? That’s the question I’ve been asking of a lot of people this week. Among them is Adie Tomer, a senior analyst with the Brookings Institution, who focuses on transportation and infrastructure issues.
Q: You have reviewed the recent numbers related to air service in and out of Boise. What do you see? Continue Reading →
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