Jobless rate drop clipped by metro spikes

Declining employment in the Coeur d'Alene region and in another three of Idaho's five metropolitan areas during April partially offset gains in rural Idaho to limit the drop in the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to two-tenths of a percentage point at 7.7 percent.

Sixteen of the 33 rural counties posted declining jobless rates from March to April while rates in two others were unchanged. The rate for the five counties in the Boise metro area was unchanged at 7.6 percent while the rates in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls and Pocatello areas rose.

In Coeur d'Alene, the unemployment rate increased from 8.5 precent in March to 8.8 percent in April. Last year in April, it was 10.2 percent.

The rate in the Lewiston metro area declined in large part due to rising employment on the Washington side of the area in Asotin County. Employment on the Idaho side in Nez Perce County was essentially stable.

Eight counties posted double-digit rates in April, led again by Adams County at 13.2 percent. That was down from nine in March and 15 in April 2011 when Adams had a rate of 16.5 percent and the state rate stood at 8.7 percent.

Ten counties had rates under 6 percent with Oneida and Franklin counties posting the lowest rates at 4.4 percent. In March nine counties posted rates under 6 percent, but Franklin County was at 4.3 percent for the lowest rate.

A year earlier, only four counties were under 6 percent, and Oneida was the lowest at 4.7 percent.