The number of unemployed Idaho workers rose above 7 percent in March for the first time in over 21 years as businesses shed jobs for the seventh consecutive month. Idaho’s economy had not lost jobs between February and March since World War II.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose three-tenths of a point to 7.1 percent, three full percentage points higher than a year earlier. Another 2,100 workers swelled the ranks of the jobless to a record 53,000. Unemployment benefits payments approached $60 million in March, intensifying the pressure on the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.
According to department analysts, there is little evidence to suggest Idaho’s employment picture will improve in the next several months.
A modest increase beyond seasonal expectations in restaurant and bar payrolls and fractional gains in retail trade, health care and financial services failed to counter job losses spread across the rest of the economy. The latest round of layoffs at Micron Technology in Boise and the closure of the Tamarack resort in Donnelly began to have an impact. Nonfarm jobs in March slipped 400 from February to 609,700, and total employment dropped by 4,600 to less than 697,000, erasing all the growth Idaho generated since mid-2005.
The significance of the March decline was underscored in construction, when jobs normally increase as the weather improves and new projects begin. But this year, construction shed another 700 jobs between February and March.
Some employers did hire in March, filling vacancies, replacing retirees and in some cases actually increasing payrolls. But the 9,400 new hires last month was the fewest for any month since complete records began in 1998.
Nationally, the unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a point to 8.5 percent, widening the gap with Idaho. March was the 19th straight month that Idaho’s unemployment has risen, but the state rate has still been lower than the nation’s for the last 7½ years.
While employment continued to fall and unemployment grew, some workers were leaving Idaho’s labor force, possibly discouraged about job prospects. There were 2,500 fewer people working or looking for work in Idaho in March than in February, and for the first time since the beginning of the economic crisis of the 1980s, Idaho’s work force was substantially smaller than it was a year earlier.
Since March 2008, over 33,000 jobs disappeared, and unemployment rose by 22,000. The March increase in the number of jobless workers was the second largest on record behind January’s 3,200 and the 12th month in a row that nonfarm jobs have totaled less than a year earlier.
Job losses throughout Idaho have been widespread. Over 6,500 manufacturing, primarily in high technology, and 8,300 construction jobs were lost over the past 12 months along with 9,400 transportation and warehousing jobs, 8,600 jobs in professional and business services and 2,600 in leisure and hospitality, mostly in restaurants and bars. The limited bright spot was 1,900 new jobs in health care.
The unemployment rate in every county was higher in March than a year earlier with 21 of Idaho’s 44 counties recording a rate decline from February. Clearwater County had the highest rate at 16.5 percent. Other double digit counties were Adams at 14.9 percent, Benewah at 15.9 percent, Shoshone at 11.6 percent, Boundary at 12.8 percent and Valley at 12.4 percent. Only three Idaho counties reported double digit rates in March 2008.
Just two counties posted rates at or below 4 percent last month. Owyhee County had the lowest rate at 2.9 percent, and Teton came in at 3.9 percent. A year ago, 23 counties had rates below 4 percent.
Since 1978 the statewide unemployment rate has typically been flat between February and March. This year’s three-tenths of a point increase is the largest on record for February to March.
Seasonally Adjusted Forecast Data
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3/09
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2/09
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3/08
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Civilian Labor Force
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749,700
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751,500
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Unemployment
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53,000
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31,000
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% Labor Force Unemployed
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7.1
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6.8
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4.1
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Total Employment
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696,700
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701,300
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720,500
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Unadjusted Forecast Data
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Civilian Labor Force
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745,300
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748,000
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Unemployment
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59,400
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35,600
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% Labor Force Unemployed
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8.0
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4.8
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Total Employment
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685,900
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712,400
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