Idaho earned last place and an “F” ranking in an analysis of government transparency released today. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group study focuses on how easily the public can get information about government spending.
“The main thing is that Idaho is one of the four states that does not have checkbook-level expenditure information,” Tax and Budget Associate Ryan Pierannunzi explained. “We consider that the very basic thing that all states should have.” Continue Reading →
Gov. Otter signed HB 546 (IGEM) into law this afternoon
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has signed into law his plan to kick-start collaboration between university researchers and private industry.
Otter’s IGEM, the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission, spends $5 million to spur local innovation through research. The plan sets aside $1 million in Idaho Department of Commerce grants for start-up businesses, $2 million for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies. Another $2 million will be split between Idaho’s three research universities. Continue Reading →
One of our readers recently asked why the Sun Valley Resort isn’t one of Blaine County’s top employers. Data from the Idaho Labor Department shows the Blaine County School District is the biggest employer in that county.
Back in January we posted this map, which shows the top five employers in each county. We wanted to see how many top employers were government entities and how many were private companies. Continue Reading →
Ben and Lori Jensen now live in Meridian, after losing their home in Star, Idaho.
Four hundred. That’s how many foreclosure-related documents an Ally bank employee might have processed every day at the height of the foreclosure crisis. At Bank of America, the rate was a stunning 75 to 80 per hour.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been compiling interesting data on the number of job openings and job turnover each month. It’s dubbed JOLTS, a handy acronym for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
As of January 31, 2012 there were almost 3.5 million job openings in the U.S. During the same month more than 4 million people were hired for jobs and almost 4 million people either quit, retired, were fired or laid off.
The data isn’t broken down by state, but it is by region. The Idaho Department of Labor currently has 2,317 jobs posted on its searchable website. That doesn’t include jobs that are posted through other sites like Monster, Craigslist or Indeed. Continue Reading →
Would-be workers lined up at a job expo early this year.
As the jobless rate continues to fall, a lot of people have found themselves wondering how the U.S. economy is producing jobs when it’s actually not growing all that much. Planet Money sums up the puzzle with this pithy question: “What’s The Opposite Of A Jobless Recovery?”
“Back in 1962, Yale University economist Arthur Okun described a long-running relationship between economic growth and jobs. When the economy grew faster than its long-run trend, the unemployment rate tended to fall by about half as much as the additional growth in percentage terms. Continue Reading →
This truth still holds: women earn less than men. Despite decades of improvement, women who work full-time and year-round earn about 77 percent as much as similarly employed men. Where do women fare the worst? Financial news and commentary site 24/7 Wall Street has compiled a ranking of the cities where women are paid the least. The Boise metro area earns a spot on that unfortunate list, coming in eighth.
The analysis, based on U.S. Census data, shows that the median income for women in the Boise area is $32,514. That’s compared to a median of $44,908 for men.
The Huffington Post has built a slideshow from the findings. Take a look here.
Idaho's current cigarette tax is 57 cents per pack.
Idaho lawmakers won’t take up a plan to raise the state’s cigarette tax. Â The House Revenue and Taxation Committee killed a bill that would have done just that by a 11 to 5 vote.
The plan, supported by the American Cancer Society and about 25 other groups, would have raised Idaho’s cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack. The state currently charges a 57 cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, which is one of the lowest tax rates in the country.
Rep. Lenore Hardy Barrett (R-Challis) told the committee the bill was “the most blatant case of social engineering” she’d ever seen. Continue Reading →
Spc. David Hampton, 21, returned to Hayden, Idaho, in September and is still looking for work.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates there are at least 63,000 people in the state without work. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for a job. This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, that follows several Idahoans in their search for work.
We brought you a story a few months ago about two soldiers from the Northwest. They had just returned from Iraq with their National Guard unit. Both started looking for new civilian jobs. Neither is satisfied with what they found. Both soldiers are now thinking about signing up for another overseas tour with the military. Continue Reading →
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