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.

Since those declarations, Idaho’s unemployment rate climbed to its peak of 8.8 percent in August 2010. By August 2011 it had dropped to 8.4 percent, and by August 2012 it was down to 7 percent.

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March 8, 2012

Jobs For Idaho Teens Deteriorated In Last Decade

In reporting StateImpact’s recent story on Idaho’s high teen unemployment rate, one of the people I consulted was Andrew Sum, of Northeastern University in Boston. He’s an economist, and an expert on the youth labor market. Here, he explains the magnitude of the shifts Idaho has seen in terms of teen employment. Q: First, you […]

March 7, 2012

More Bad News For Idaho Teens: Young Workers’ Pay Takes A Hit

Young workers’ wages have fallen off in the last ten years, a period that a new report terms the “lost decade.” D.C.-based think tank the Economic Policy Institute analyzed entry-level workers’ earnings going back to 1979. “From 2000 to 2011, a period of disappointing overall wage growth, wages actually fell among every entry-level group regardless […]

March 6, 2012

New Unemployment Data Shows A Stagnant Idaho Economy

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 […]

March 5, 2012

Economy Leaves Few Options For Idaho Teens Who Want, Need Work

The economic downturn hit young people especially hard. Today’s young adults are the “boomerang generation,” given how many have landed back home with parents. For teens, jobs are even harder to come by, and few places are tougher than Idaho. Last year, the state’s teen unemployment rate stood at 30 percent, one of the highest […]

March 4, 2012

For Jobless Teen, Search For Work Is Struggle To Help Family

StateImpact‘s story on teen unemployment will air tomorrow morning on KBSX. Ahead of that story, we’re doing short profiles of a couple of the teenagers who agreed to be interviewed. One of them is Stephen Berry, 18, a senior at Frank Church High School. For Berry, wanting to work isn’t about wanting to earn spending […]

March 2, 2012

January’s Jobless Rate Drops Slightly

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 […]

Lack Of Work Means Fewer Options For One Idaho Teen

StateImpact is reporting on teen unemployment this week, which has meant talking to a lot of school counselors and high school students. We’ll be wrapping their stories into a radio feature early next week, but in the meantime, we’re introducing a couple of the teenagers here. First, meet Igor Autin. He’s a junior at Boise […]

March 1, 2012

Idaho’s 2011 Unemployment Rate Barely Lower Than 2010

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 […]

February 27, 2012

Unemployed Teens Could Face Long-Term Disadvantages

Idaho had one of the highest teen unemployment rates in the nation last year. Nearly 30 percent of 16- to 19-year-old Idahoans were unemployed, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. This week, StateImpact is exploring that rate. After all, unemployed teens aren’t just college-bound high school students who are finding it harder to […]

February 21, 2012

As Economy Recovers, High-School Dropouts Fall Further Behind

High-school dropouts are falling further behind, even as the national jobless rate has improved. That’s according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal. “Some 1.8 million more college graduates have found work since January 2010, when the recovery began producing jobs,” the piece says, “but about 128,000 high-school dropouts lost work in the same […]