Survey: It doesn't pay to work in Idaho

COEUR d'ALENE - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Survey released employment data on Thursday, saying Idaho's average wage is 84 percent of the national average, and Coeur d'Alene is at 79.4 percent.

According to the release, the average hourly wage for all occupations statewide at $18.48, or 84 percent of the national average wage in 2012. In 2011, the Idaho average was 85.2 percent of the national average.

The average wage in Coeur d'Alene was $17.48 in 2012, down from $17.51 in 2011. The median wage was up, however, from $13.82 per hour in 2011 to $14.06 in 2012. The median wage - where half the workers make more and half make less - was 84.1 percent of the national average.

Idaho's statewide median wage was $14.58 an hour in 2012, or 87.3 percent, down from 87.6 percent of the national median wage in 2011.

The Pocatello metropolitan area, which covers Bannock and Power counties, was the only metro area of the state's five where the percentage of the national average and median wages increased.

Idaho's statewide average wage fell from 44th in 2011 to 45th in 2012 among the states while the median wage remained at 42nd.

Of the 22 occupational groups measured for the data set, all were below the national average except for the "farming, fishing and forestry" category. Average wages in that category were higher in Boise, Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston.