Press Release

Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady from July to August at 8.8 percent as 3,200 workers dropped out of the labor force.

That contraction, second only to the 6,600 labor force drop in January, reflected employer reluctance to expand payrolls during August and essentially no job growth from July for the first time since 1987. It was the ninth straight month that employers hired their fewest workers since monthly new-hire reporting began in 1997.

The 8.8 percent jobless rate forecasted for August is well above the 5.2 percent rate for August 2008 and the highest since July 1983.

Idaho's record unemployment rate was 9.4 percent from October 1982 through February 1983.

Nationally, the unemployment rate spiked three-tenths of a point to 9.7 percent as employers shed another 216,000 jobs. The national rate was 6.2 percent in August 2008.

While the number of jobs in the Idaho economy was essentially unchanged from July to August, employers have cut over 48,000 jobs in the last year, driving the number of Idahoans with jobs to only 685,000 for the first time since January 2005. Job losses cut across the entire economy except for private education and health care, and growth in that sector was only a third of what would be expected. Manufacturing jobs have fallen back to 1992 levels while construction was at the lowest job total since 1998.

Over 66,000 Idaho workers were still off the job during August, and 15 of the 44 counties posted double-digit jobless rates, the most counties at or above 10 percent since April 1987. Nearly half the workers eligible for unemployment checks have exhausted their regular state benefits and moved over to extended federally financed benefits that Congress authorized last year after the recession began. Idaho paid out $22.2 million in regular state benefits during August and another $21.6 million extended and supplemental federal benefits to over 38,000 idled workers. Less than $15 million in benefits was paid to jobless workers in August 2008.

Regular benefit payments were still running about twice the level of 2008, depleting the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund despite a 70 percent increase in employer tax rates. The state began borrowing from the federal government in July to continue paying the regular state benefits, which will total more than twice the amount employers pay in taxes this year. That imbalance between benefits and tax receipts will force another higher tax increase for employers in 2010 although the amount will not be known until late this year. 

Since May 2007, when the unemployment rate was at a record low 2.8 percent, Idaho's unemployment rate has risen steadily with only three breaks. It was unchanged from July to August 2007 at 3 percent, unchanged from March to April 2009 at 7 percent and unchanged in August from July 2009 at 8.8 percent.

Unemployment rates were up in all 44 counties from a year earlier, and only two counties - Franklin and Owyhee - had rates below 5 percent. A year ago, 23 counties had rates under 5 percent, and none were in double digits.

The lowest rate was 4 percent in Owyhee County. The highest was 15.9 percent in Adams County.

Unemployment in the Boise metropolitan area, which has nearly 40 percent of Idaho's labor force, dropped four-tenths of a point to 9.8 percent, but the Coeur d'Alene metropolitan area saw a six-tenths increase to 10 percent, making it the only metro area in double digits.

Seasonally Adjusted Forecast Data                

Area Unemployment Rates