Idaho jobless rate drops

Idaho’s jobless rate fell for the 35th straight month in June.

According to numbers from the Idaho Department of Labor, businesses in the Gem State hired more people in June during any month since the economic expansion of the mid-2000s.

June had an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, a drop of two-tenths from May.
However, total employment was “essentially unchanged” from May at just under 741,800 people. The labor force, which consists of those working and those actively looking for work, declined by nearly 1,000 people.

“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 Labor Department said in a news release Friday.

For the first time since March 2008, no Idaho county had a jobless rate in the double digits.

The high in June was 9.6 percent in Clearwater County, down a half percentage point from May. But 14 of the 44 counties saw the monthly jobless rates increase from May.

The lowest rate was 2.9 percent in Oneida County. It was the third month in a row that at least one county has been under 3 percent.

Twenty-four counties had rates below the statewide rate of 4.7 percent.

According to the news release, fewer people, an average of 6,900 people per week, are receiving jobless benefits from the state, down about 1,200 from last year.