Local jobless rate remains at 5.1 percent
POST FALLS - Kootenai County's unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent in June, according to an Idaho Department of Labor report released Friday.
When the rate dropped to that number in May, it was the lowest it had been since June 2008.
This summer's jobless situation is a drastic change from June a year ago, when the rate was 7.3 percent.
All indicators, including initial claims and job openings, remained steady from May to June this year, said Alivia Metts, Labor regional economist.
"The industries with the most job openings were in health care and social services, call centers, accommodation and food services and manufacturing," she said.
Metts said the economy is entering what are typically the highest-employment months, the third quarter.
"However, the labor force typically starts dropping slightly after July, too," she said. "Higher employment coupled with lower labor force will result in a slightly lower unemployment rate in the coming months."
Coeur d'Alene's jobless rate fell to 4.7 percent in June from 4.8 percent in May. Post Falls' number remained unchanged at 4.8 percent.
Idaho's rate dropped to 4.7 from 4.9 and the nation's fell to 6.1 from 6.3.
Idaho businesses hired more people in June than during any month since the expansion of the mid-2000s, according to the Labor report. It was the 35th straight month that the number of jobless workers has declined.
"Employers created new jobs at a pace just below the average for the previous five years," the report states. "But with total jobs 1.9 percent higher than in June 2013, job creation appeared to be moving to a more sustainable level over the long term from the spurt of growth the Idaho economy saw in 2012 and 2013 coming out of the recession."
Total employment was essentially unchanged from May - less than 741,800 - marking the 10th straight monthly employment record. But the labor force - the combination of those working and those actively looking for work - declined nearly 1,000. It was the first drop in the labor force since last September. The percentage of Idahoans older than 15 in the labor force slipped a tenth of a point to 63.7 percent.
The decline in the labor force reflected, at least in part, the thousands of workers employers replaced during June due to retirements or other reasons. The number of new hires exceeded 22,000 for the first time since September 2006, and three of every four were to replace existing workers.
Statewide, all major economic sectors except private education and health care increased jobs from May, but most were only fractional increases. Health care, which has posted strong growth during and since the recession, has been undergoing some structural contraction while private education typically sees a decline between May and June with the end of the traditional school year.
Idaho's economy has added 34,000 jobs since January to push total non-farm jobs in June to more than 660,000 - barely 1 percent less than the pre-recession peak.
For the first time since March 2008, no Idaho county had a jobless rate in the double digits in June, according to the report.