Date:
5/22/2015
Information Contact 1:
Craig Shaul :
(208) 332-3570 ext 3201 :
Information Contact 2:
Georgia Smith :
(208) 332-3570 ext 2102 :
April Unemployment Rate Holds Steady at a Seven-Year Low
Signs of strong economic growth continued in April as Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at a seven-year low of 3.8 percent.
April’s labor force grew by 4,100 people while the number of employed increased by 4,000, pushing Idaho’s total employment to another new high of 761,200. The percentage of working-age adults with jobs or looking for work rose to 63.7 percent, the highest labor participation rate since 2013 and the fourth consecutive monthly increase.
Nonfarm payrolls around the state also continued to grow between March and April with most industry sectors demonstrating substantial annual job growth. A healthy housing market and a natural seasonal increase pushed construction jobs up 7.6 percent from what they were a year ago and jobs in financial activities up 3.4 percent. Idaho’s remaining industry sectors also experienced strong year-over-year growth with the exception of mining and logging which were 3.1 percent below last year’s employment levels.
New hires exceeded 17,500, the highest level in six months and the highest April hiring rate since before the recession.
As Idaho’s economy continues its recovery, employers face increased competition and challenges in finding qualified and available applicants. The Conference Board, a Washington, D.C., think-tank, estimates there’s only one unemployed worker for every job opening in April, a continuation of March labor market conditions.
Nationally, unemployment dropped to 5.4 percent during April. Based on new estimates and revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Idaho’s unemployment rate has been below the national average for just over five and a half years.
Unemployment insurance payments and the number of people collecting those benefits also continued to decline. Annually, benefit payments were down 14 percent - from $10.4 million a year ago to $8.9 million - while the number of claimants dropped by 18 percent from a weekly average of 9,600 a year ago to 7,900 for April of 2015.
It’s been 10 months since any of Idaho’s 44 counties reported a double-digit unemployment rate. Seventeen counties had rates at or below the statewide rate of 3.8 percent, the same number in February. Fremont County had the lowest rate at 3.1 percent, unchanged from March. Shoshone County’s rate fell by a tenth of a point to 7.4 percent in April, but still has the state’s highest county unemployment rate.
The Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area was the only MSA to post a rate lower than the state at 3.6 percent. Coeur d’Alene had the highest rate among the metro areas at 4.6 percent, but it was still down one-tenth of a percent from March.
Among the major cities, Boise’s 2.7 percent unemployment rate was the lowest, while the city of Caldwell had the highest jobless rate of 5.2 percent.
|
Seasonally Adjusted Data
|
04/15
|
03/15
|
04/14
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Civilian Labor Force
|
791,500
|
787,300
|
776,400
|
|
Unemployment
|
30,300
|
30,100
|
38,000
|
|
% Labor Force Unemployed
|
3.8
|
3.8
|
4.9
|
|
Total Employment
|
761,200
|
757,200
|
738,400
|
|
Unadjusted Forecast Data
|
|
|
|
|
Civilian Labor Force
|
790,700
|
787,900
|
773,000
|
|
Unemployment
|
32,400
|
34,800
|
38,800
|
|
% Labor Force Unemployed
|
4.1
|
4.4
|
5.0
|
|
Total Employment
|
758,300
|
753,100
|
734,200
|
State and county data is available on the Idaho Department of Labor's website in Excel formathttp://labor.idaho.gov/lmi/laborforce.xls and http://labor.idaho.gov/lmi/histrates.xls or in PDF formathttp://labor.idaho.gov/lmi/laborforce.pdf and http://labor.idaho.gov/lmi/histrates.pdf.