Jobless rate dips again

POST FALLS — Kootenai County's jobless rate dropped two-tenths of a percent to 3.7 in February after a month of strong hiring, according to an Idaho Department of Labor report Friday.

"Kootenai County added almost 500 jobs to payrolls, which is a strong performance given how low our unemployment rate is," said Sam Wolkenhauer, Labor economist.

"In the coming months we should see some seasonal employment tick up, especially in construction. Given how many new residents are moving to our area, we should expect demand for housing, services and financial and real estate services to continue to be very strong this year."

The county's unemployment rate is sandwiched between the state's number of 3 percent and the nation's rate of 4.1 percent.

Wolkenhauer said job seekers are enjoying these days of low unemployment. Businesses? Not so much.

"Low unemployment is definitely pinching employers," he said. "We are constantly hearing that employers are struggling to find people. On the other hand, this environment can have clear benefits for some job seekers, and even people who are currently employed. Hopefully, low unemployment will translate into more choices for job seekers, and upward pressure on their wages."

Wolkenhauer didn't have an industry breakdown of the new jobs in February as those statistics are released quarterly.

Wolkenhauer said a broad expansion of employment is absorbing new residents to the area. In 2017, 65 of 91 sub-sectors in Kootenai County increased employment, with strong growth in construction, health care, consumer services, manufacturing and professional services.

"We’re seeing a lot of incremental expansion from existing employers rather than a reliance on one or two major new employers," he said. "At the job fairs that our department has hosted, the open positions that employers are trying to fill have been outnumbering the job seekers."

Idaho had the fastest total non-farm job growth in the nation at 3.4 percent for February, the report states.

Five counties experienced unemployment rates at or above 5 percent. Clearwater is at 7 percent; Shoshone, 5.7 percent; Lewis, 5.3 percent; and Benewah and Idaho, 5 percent. Madison County’s unemployment rate remained the lowest at 1.8 percent.