Jobless rate inches up in region

POST FALLS - Kootenai County's unemployment rate is holding steady through the summer.

The rate inched up a tenth of a percent to 5.2 in July from June, according to an Idaho Department of Labor report released Friday.

Alivia Metts, Labor regional economist, called the increase "statistically non-significant."

"The labor force increased by nearly 790 people while the number of unemployed inched up by a mere 100, which were the main driving forces in the insignificant increase," she said.

Metts said the third quarter is traditionally the strongest employment quarter of the year, so she expects the rate to remain low in the near future.

The state and national jobless rates also increased a tenth of a percent in July to 4.8 and 6.2 respectively, according to the report. Idaho's rate has been below the national rate for nearly 13 years.

Coeur d'Alene's number increased two-tenths to 4.9, while Post Falls' increased three-tenths to 5.2.

Idaho employers created jobs at a stronger rate during the first half of the year than previously estimated, regaining the number of jobs lost to the recession, the report states.

Jobs slipped slightly in July as they have every July except for two years since 1990. Even with a July total above the pre-recession peak, the slippage - combined with a modest labor force increase - was enough to push Idaho's unemployment rate to 4.8 percent, compared to 6.3 percent for July of 2013.

Monthly job growth in 2014, previously estimated around 2 percent higher than 2013, actually ranged between 2.5 percent and 3.2 percent, sitting at 2.7 percent in July - 17,000 more than last year and about 1,000 above the previous July high in 2007, not seasonally adjusted.

Still, even with intensified job growth, Idaho's economy continued moving toward services. Since January, nearly 31,000 jobs have been created with 9,000 in goods production, which averaged $12,000 a year more in pay in 2013. Before the recession, nearly 20 percent of all jobs were in goods production - primarily construction and manufacturing. Today 15.8 percent are in goods production.

Sixteen of Idaho's 44 counties saw monthly jobless rates increase between June and July. The lowest rate was 3 percent in Franklin County, breaking a three-month string of at least one county with an unemployment rate less than 3 percent.

The highest county unemployment rate for July was 9.4 percent in Clearwater County, down another two-tenths from June.