Emilie Ritter Saunders was StateImpact Idaho's multimedia reporter until the project merged with the Boise State Public Radio site in July 2013. She previously worked as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Montana Public Radio and was a Senior Fellow with NPR's Economic Training Project from 2009 until 2010. She graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2007.
General fund tax collections have exceeded forecasts for three straight months, putting revenue almost $33 million above the forecast for the fiscal year. The Division of Financial Management reports February tax collections were nearly $20 million above projections. DFM says it’s the largest surplus of the fiscal year.
Division of Financial Management / State of Idaho
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Raymond Forbes / Getty Images
Last summer almost 70,000 Idahoans were out of work. That doesn't include people who've stopped looking for a job.
New numbers show Idaho’s unemployment rate hasn’t significantly improved in the last two years. The rate hasn’t been below 8 percent since August 2009. That means at least 60,000 Idahoans have been jobless since that time. Now, data from the Labor Department show while the number of people out of work hasn’t been as high as first thought, the rate hasn’t gone down much, either.
Calculating the state’s unemployment rate is a strange process. Each month, the U.S. Census Bureau talks with about 600 Idaho households to collect data on employment, salary and other demographic info. It’s called the Current Population Survey.
That information then goes to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Idaho Department of Labor for data analysts to estimate how many people in Idaho are out of work. Those monthly figures are always estimates and once a year the data gets a second look. Continue Reading
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These are the five most clicked, commented and shared stories of the week. In case you missed one, take a look:
Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates January’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.1 percent. That’s down from December’s estimate of 8.3 percent.
Despite the downward trend, there are still an estimated 63,000 people in Idaho without jobs. Those figures don’t take into account the people who have given up looking for work. Bob Uhlenkott at the Idaho Department of Labor says when discouraged workers are included in the monthly jobless rate, it typically doubles.
As we reported Thursday, Idaho’s average unemployment rate for 2011 wasn’t significantly different from 2010’s average. Uhlenkott says while things aren’t getting worse in Idaho, they aren’t improving quickly. “Recovery is starting to gain a little bit of traction – but we’re not popping the cork yet,” Uhlenkott says.
Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio
Inside the Idaho State Capitol dome.
A bill to cut Idaho’s top corporate and individual income tax rate overwhelmingly passed the House this afternoon.
House Bill 563 would cut the top individual income tax rate from 7.8 percent to 7.4 percent and the top corporate rate from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent. It would cost the state an estimated $35.7 million in 2013.
Democrats and eight Republicans opposed the plan. Continue Reading
Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact Idaho
Job seekers at a recent job fair in Boise, Idaho
Idaho’s average annual jobless rate in 2011 wasn’t much different from 2010. Data released this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Idaho’s average unemployment rate in 2011 was 8.7 percent, down one-tenth of a percent from 2010.
Idaho Department of Labor Regional Economist Kathryn Tacke says there are a couple of reasons for Idaho’s stagnant rate. One, the recession hit hard here, and recovery has been exceedingly slow. The second reason: Idaho has a significant teen population trying to enter the workforce, which can keep the jobless rate high. Continue Reading
Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho
A sign advertises a foreclosed home in Nampa, Idaho's Blackhawk Subdivision.
Over the last few years, Idaho has consistently had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. The rate is trending down, and the number of bank-owned and short-sale properties are selling faster than they were back in 2009.
Still, as ProPublica reports, government plans to fix the housing mess have fallen short. ProPublica has been reporting on the Obama administration’s attempts to turn the housing market around and now its detailing the four Republican presidential candidates’ proposals.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
24.75 percent of houses sold in Idaho last year were foreclosures
Almost 25 percent of the houses sold in Idaho last year were foreclosure sales. That’s according to RealtyTrac, a company which specializes in housing market and foreclosure data analysis. Last year, foreclosure sales were about 23 percent of all houses sold, nationally.
Other western states had among the highest rates of foreclosures sales in 2011. Numbers for Idaho’s neighboring states like Montana and Wyoming are not available because RealtyTrac doesn’t have “sufficient data” for those states. Continue Reading
United Silver Corp.
Crescent Silver Mine in Idaho's panhandle. The region is known as the "silver belt".
A Canadian mining company with operations in northern Idaho this week announced plans to explore and further develop the Crescent Silver Mine. The Crescent mine is located near Coeur d’Alene between the well-known Bunker Hill and Sunshine mines.
According to United Silver Corp.’s press release, the four-year, $23 million exploration project could yield a “significant silver resource”. United Silver says the mine has already produced about 25 million ounces of silver in the past, but it hasn’t been aggressively explored.
“Very significant surface drilling and underground exploration in the form of a spiral ramp and drifting within the known mineralization closest to surface has already been completed. The objective of the current Plan is to restart, aggressively, this partially-completed exploration/development work which began in 2007. Highly-encouraging results from this earlier work form the basis for this aggressive exploration/development plan, which has the goal of unlocking what management believes is a very high potential for the delineation of a significant silver resource.” – United Silver Corp.
Kevin Rank / Flickr
The Idaho State Capitol in Boise
A handful of new tax and spending bills are making their way through the Legislature this week. Here’s an update of what’s happening and what we’re watching.
A bill to reduce the income and corporate tax rates of Idaho’s top earners got an initial nod of approval from the House tax committee. The Spokesman Review blog ‘Eye On Boise’ reports HB 563 passed by a 13-4 vote. Continue Reading
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