Idaho unemployment rate ticks up

After a nine month string of declines, Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percent in May to 7.8 percent. Department of Labor officials believe optimism about employment prospects pushed more job seekers into the labor market. Almost three thousand more people entered the job market last month.

Idaho employers increased their payrolls 1 percent in May, but that was short of five year average April-May increase of 1.3 percent. Department officials say the slip came in the service sector, which accounts for four of every five jobs.

The number of Idaho workers with jobs jumped over 721 thousand for the first time since mid 2008.