Idaho unemployment declines

BOISE (AP) - The Idaho Department of Labor says the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December fell to 8.4 percent, the lowest level since September 2009.

The state's unemployment rate has dropped for five straight months, and fell from 8.5 percent in November. The national unemployment rate for December was 8.5 percent.

Kootenai County, the one metropolitan area in the state that had posted double-digit unemployment rates for 19 straight months, dropped half a percentage point in December to 9.8 percent.

Bonner County's jobless rate fell to 11.6 percent from 12.5. Shoshone County's fell to 12.6, down from 13.1, Benewah County's remained the same at 12.6, while Boundary County fell to 11.7 from 12.9.

The Labor Department says more than 698,000 Idahoans were working in December - 13,000 more than in December 2010 - and the largest total since March 2009.

Unemployment benefit payments totaled $31.5 million to 32,000 jobless workers in December. That total is 25 percent less than the $41.8 million paid to over 39,900 unemployed workers in December 2010, when the unemployment rate stood at 9.7 percent.

Adams County continued to have the highest rate at 17 percent in December while Franklin County again had the lowest at 5 percent.