Local jobless rate drops
<p>People wait in line at the 2011 Maximum Connections Job and Career Fair Thursday in Portland, Ore. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in three months. It's a sign that the job market remains depressed.</p>
Kootenai County's unemployment rate dropped from 11.8 percent in July to 11.6 percent in August, according to a report released on Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor.
The last time the county's rate dipped below 10 percent was in April 2010 when it was 9.9.
Coeur d'Alene's rate remained at 11.5 percent last month, while Post Falls' increased from 12.5 to 12.8.
Meanwhile, Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point in August, falling to its lowest level in 15 months.
Although the rate was estimated at 9.2 percent - the lowest since May 2010 - 70,000 people were still out of work around the state. Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 9.1.
Benewah County's rate dropped from 14.9 to 14.3.
The number of workers statewide with jobs declined for the third straight month, dropping below 689,000 for the first time since March. Nearly 2,400 workers dropped out of the labor force in August, the second largest one-month drop on record. The largest was 2,600 in July.
Employers expanded payrolls by just 1,800, matching the gain from July to August in 2010 but far below the pre-recession average of 3,300 new jobs. New hires in August totaled 14,500, above the past two years but well below the pre-recession norm of 18,400. The Conference Board, a business think tank, estimated there were 3.7 unemployed Idaho workers for every job listed in August, the third month in a row that ratio has increased.
The production side of the economy turned in a second straight month of better-than-expected job creation to keep total production jobs above the year-earlier levels. But that was partially offset by less-than-average performance in the service sector, which was hampered by another modest decline in government.
That kept the overall job picture sluggish. A total of 607,000 nonfarm jobs in August was still .4 percent below August 2010. Since July 2010, current month jobs have ranged from 0.6 percent above to 0.6 percent below the year-earlier levels.
Jobs in transportation and warehousing rose just 300 in August, the smallest increase in the last three years after an unexpected decline in the second quarter. There was a loss of jobs in this industry in May for only the second time in over 20 years followed by another loss in June.
Last year, Idaho's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in August with 71,500 workers off the job. This year August marked the first time in four years that Idaho's current unemployment rate has been lower than the rate for the same month a year earlier.
Nearly 27,000 unemployed workers collected $25.5 million in jobless benefits during August - $12.1 million in regular benefits and $13.4 million in federal extended benefits. That was down from over 42,000 workers collecting $46 million in benefits during August 2010. Over 11,500 workers have exhausted all benefits without finding jobs.
Twenty-six of Idaho's 44 counties recorded lower rates in August than in July while just 15 saw rates rise. Fifteen primarily rural counties posted double-digit unemployment rates in August, down from 19 in July.