County's jobless rate inches upward

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates rose in two dozen of Idaho’s counties last month, reflecting the tenth of a percentage point increase the statewide jobless rate posted for October.

Higher unemployment in the state’s four largest metropolitan areas – Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls and Pocatello – drove the increase. The number of jobless workers in those four areas was up more than 1,000 combined while statewide the number of unemployed rose 1,250 from September.

The jobless rate declined in 19 counties from September while Lemhi County went unchanged at 11 percent.

However in Bonner County, the jobless rate increased by almost a full percentage point, going from 12.8 percent in August 2010 to 13.7 percent in September 2010. The county’s unemployment rate is almost two percentage points from a year ago, when the jobless rate was 11.8 percent.

In Boundary County, the jobless rate dropped from 16.4 to 15.6 percent between August and September. However, it is up about 1 percentage point compared to a year ago when the rate was 14.5 percent.

Unemployment across Idaho rose to 9.1 percent in October. More than 69,000 people were out of work, and 47,000 of them were in the four metro areas.

The economy has been much more stable through the recession in Idaho’s fifth metro area of Lewiston, where the rate dropped a half a percentage point to 7.5 percent in October.

Twenty counties recorded double-digit unemployment rates, up from 16 in September. The highest was 19.8 percent in resource-reliant Adams County, the highest county jobless rate since Idaho County posted a 19.9 percent rate in February 1982 during the state’s last severe recession.

Oneida County had the lowest rate at 5.1 percent, up two-tenths of a point from September. Five counties were under 6 percent – the same number as September.

Seasonal factors used to calculate county, metropolitan, labor market area and city unemployment rates were updated this fall to better reflect shifts in economic patterns during both the recession and the state’s record-breaking economic expansion. Historic month-to-month and year-over-year comparisons using seasonally adjusted data can only be made for 2009 and 2010. Seasonally adjusted data for prior months will not be available until the benchmarking process in March 2011. Until then, unadjusted data should be used for comparisons.

The two-tenths of a point increase in the Boise metro unemployment rate to 9.3 percent was the result of a substantial four-tenths increase in Ada County and significant increases in Gem, Boise and Owyhee. Canyon County, which has seen unemployment rise since mid-summer, posted a two-tenths decline to 11 percent.

Thirty-two of the 44 counties had unemployment rates in October higher than October 2009, but the fallout from the recession did not reach its peak statewide until February 2010.

The five resource-dependent Panhandle counties continued to have the highest aggregate regional rate at 12 percent, unchanged from September, while eastern and southeastern Idaho had the lowest rate at 7.6 percent.