Idaho jobless rate steady
<p>Rhonda Stanton of Coeur d'Alene waits in the unemployment line at the State of Idaho Commerce and Labor Department building on Friday. Stanton, who has been out of work since February 2009, struggles to balance the bare essentials with a few small luxuries.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Rhonda Stanton sat in the Department of Labor office in Coeur d'Alene on Friday waiting to talk to someone about her unemployment benefits.
Clutching ticket number 23, the 43-year-old looked up at the number 8 on the electronic customer counter.
"It's going to be a while," Stanton said.
The same goes for the return of jobs to Idaho's sluggish economy.
The state's unemployment rate remained nearly unchanged this month. In June, the rate was 8.8 percent, and July's rate was a fraction higher, but still 8.8 percent.
The rate had been steadily declining since March when it was 9.4 percent. In April, the rate fell to 9.1 and dropped to 9.0 in May.
"It's been a slow go," said Alivia Body, the Department of Labor's regional economist in Coeur d'Alene.
Nationally, the July unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.
The county rates won't be released until Aug. 20. In June, the unemployment rate in Kootenai County was 9.6 percent, higher than the state and national rates.
Stanton, a Coeur d'Alene resident, knows jobs are elusive. She has been out of work since February 2009 after being laid off by two of the area's call centers.
She has been looking for work ever since.
Stanton thinks her job search is even tougher because of her age and perhaps because she walks with a limp, the result of a knee injury.
"You go into a fast food place and they're all young," Stanton said.
As for the limp, she said it doesn't slow her down, but potential employers don't know that.
Her husband, Clay, made it through the rounds of layoffs at Buck Knives.
"Because he's working, we don't qualify for any other assistance. We don't get food stamps," Stanton said.
Her 12-year-old daughter is eligible for lunches during the school year.
"Food is a luxury now. Rent and the electric bill come first," Stanton said. "We have a car payment, but we need a car."
When she has a job interview, Stanton drives her husband to work in Post Falls and keeps the family's only vehicle for the day.
They've continued to pay for a cell phone and their Internet service, items Stanton considers luxuries. She said they're necessities when you're looking for work.
"I can't give up the computer because I have to apply for jobs. Ninety-nine percent of them are online with online applications," Stanton said.
She doesn't have transportation to get to the library or unemployment office to use those computers.
Things got even tougher for the family when Stanton's unemployment benefits ran out after May.
Federally funded extended unemployment benefits expired after Memorial Day for 11,500 unemployed Idaho workers, but were reinstated in late July.
"That's why I'm here, I'm looking for an extension," she said. "Anything will help."