Idaho employers remained cautious about the economy in September, but the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 8.8 percent. The monthly Idaho Department of Labor forecast showed the number of unemployed workers falling by more than 1,200 from August, the largest one-month decline on record.
Total unemployment slipped under 66,000 in September for the first time since June, but that is still 25,000 more than in September 2008 when the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. Over $50 million in state and federal unemployment benefits was paid to nearly 37,000 workers during September, but unemployed workers are now exhausting all the benefit entitlements at a rate of over 100 a week. Since the year began Idaho has paid $493 million in benefits to over 67,000 people - nearly twice the amount paid in all of 2008, which was the previous record.
The slight improvement in the jobless rate resulted from over 2,500 people dropping out of the labor force. It was only the seventh time since the mid-1970s that the labor force has contracted between August and September.
If the forecasted rate holds, it would be the first month-to-month decline in the unemployment rate since November 2006.
Nationally, the unemployment rate went in the other direction, rising a tenth of a percentage point to 9.8 percent. Idaho’s record unemployment rate was 9.4 percent from October 1982 through February 1983.
The number of Idaho workers with jobs in September fell by 1,300 from the month before to 685,100, keeping employment at its lowest level since February 2005.
Idaho’s 50,000 businesses hired 14,700 new workers in September, the lowest number of new hires in any September since record keeping began in 1997. But the number of nonfarm jobs across Idaho rose 1,700 from August, ending a two-month summer slide in jobs. The increase was almost exclusively in public and private education as the fall school term opened.
The uptick in job activity reduced the year-over-year job loss from more than 49,000 in August to just under 46,000 in September. That remained 7 percent below September 2008. But while still lower than the job loss at the depth of the 1980s recessions, the gap was a half percentage point less than in August.
The lowest September jobless rate was 3.7 percent in Franklin County while the highest was 17.8 percent in Adams County. While the number of counties with double-digit rates dropped from 15 in August to 13 in September, most of those counties posted even higher rates in September.
Seasonally Adjusted Forecast Data
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9/09
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8/09
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9/08
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|
|
|
|
|
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Civilian Labor Force
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750,800
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|
757,600
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Unemployment
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65,700
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|
40,900
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|
% Labor Force Unemployed
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8.8
|
8.9
|
5.4
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|
Total Employment
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685,100
|
686,400
|
716,700
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|
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|
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Unadjusted Forecast Data
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Civilian Labor Force
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749,800
|
|
756,400
|
|
Unemployment
|
60,600
|
|
36,200
|
|
% Labor Force Unemployed
|
8.1
|
|
4.8
|
|
Total Employment
|
689,200
|
|
720,200
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