County's jobless rate jumps upward

SANDPOINT — Despite recent signs of economic improvement, Bonner County’s jobless rate is again on the rise, topping out at 9.2 percent in March.

The figures, released Friday by the Idaho Department of Labor, are just the latest in a two-year trend of rising unemployment. The jobless rate in March 2007 was 3.4 percent, which spiked to 6.4 percent in March 2008. March 2009’s jobless rate stands as the highest the county as seen in nearly a decade.

Despite the disheartening statistics, Kathryn Tacke, an IDL economist, said some signs are pointing to a rebounding economy.

“There’s been some small changes on the national level that show consumers might be thinking about spending money again,” she said. “They’re a little more confident than they had been.”

Tacke pointed to numbers that show the housing market could have finally bottomed out, which she said would help Bonner County’s lumber industry. She also cited rising factory orders, which could inject life into the area’s manufacturing sector.

The signs are promising, but Tacke said economists are split about what they mean for long-term economic recovery.

“Perhaps these signs of hope are just far-off glimmers, but you never know, because so much of what drives the economy is about how people feel about things, so you never know what will change people’s ideas,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest unknown economists are currently debating is the impact of jobs funded by federal stimulus money, which Tacke said is just beginning to take shape. Because the level of spending has not been seen since the 1930s, Tacke said nobody knows how the stimulus package will affect job creation, but she said a quick turnaround is unlikely.

“The consensus seems to be that it is not likely we’re going to see significant improvement in the economy until the last part of this year, at the earliest,” she said.