Idaho businesses hired fewer people last month than they have during June for the last decade, pushing the forecasted seasonally adjusted unemployment rate up another half percentage point to 8.3 percent.
June’s rate was the highest jobless rate since October 1983 when the state was pulling out of the double-dip recession that ushered in a major economic shift from natural resources to services augmented by some expanded advanced manufacturing – particularly in the high technology sector.
Another 3,400 Idaho workers lost their jobs in June, driving the number of unemployed to over 62,000 for the first time ever. Over 40,000 of those workers shared $59 million in unemployment insurance benefits paid out during the month. A year ago, Idaho’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, and the number of workers without jobs was under 36,000.
Idaho’s 50,000 employers reported hiring only 14,500 new workers during the month, the lowest June total since 1998 when that information was first compiled. New hires by employers during the first half of 2009 have averaged only 11,400 a month, nearly 4,000 fewer than in 2008 and 5,000 below the average for the 10 years before that.
Job opportunities in every sector but education and health care ran well below the June average for the previous five years. Based on preliminary estimates, there were nearly 40,000 fewer jobs in Idaho than in June 2008, and total employment at less than 686,000 was at its lowest level since March 2005. Every sector except health care posted job losses over the year, and the increase in health care was just 2 percent, only half the year-over-year average for June.
June marked the second straight month that Idaho’s unemployment rate posted a larger increase than the national rate, which rose just a tenth of a point to 9.5 percent. Although Idaho’s rate has been below the national rate for over 7½ years, the gap between the two – once at over two percentage points – has narrowed considerably. In the last two months, Idaho’s rate has risen from 7 percent to 8.3 percent while the national rate rose from 8.9 percent to 9.5 percent. Idaho’s May increase of 0.8 percentage points was the largest month-to-month increase on record, and the June increase of 0.5 percentage points was the second largest.
While unemployment rates remained highest primarily in rural counties, those rates appeared to stabilize month to month at between 10 percent and 12 percent. But the rates in the more urban areas of the state have been escalating.
Unemployment in the Boise metropolitan area was up another four-tenths of a point to 10.1 percent, the first time the five-county area has been in double-digits since 1983. In Canyon County, the state’s second most populous, unemployment jumped more than a percentage point to 12.2 percent, the highest of any county in June and also the highest for Canyon County since 1983.
Adams, Boundary, Gem, Lincoln, Payette, Shoshone and Washington counties also posted double digit jobless rates for June, but all were below Canyon County. A year ago, the highest rate was 7.7 percent in Clearwater County.
Every other county but Owyhee also saw higher unemployment rates this June than a year earlier, and while those other 36 posted rates below the national rate, only six had rates below 5 percent. A year earlier, 24 of them were under 5 percent.
Owyhee County recorded the lowest rate in June at 3.5 percent, down a tenth of a point from June 2008.
Seasonally Adjusted Forecast Data
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6/09
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5/09
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6/08
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Civilian Labor Force
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747,800
|
|
753,700
|
|
Unemployment
|
62,200
|
|
35,800
|
|
% Labor Force Unemployed
|
8.3
|
7.8
|
4.7
|
|
Total Employment
|
685,600
|
692,000
|
717,900
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unadjusted Forecast Data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Civilian Labor Force
|
757,400
|
|
763,900
|
|
Unemployment
|
60,100
|
|
33,200
|
|
% Labor Force Unemployed
|
7.9
|
|
4.3
|
|
Total Employment
|
697,300
|
|
730,700
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