County's jobless rate increases

Unemployment was up in 25 of Idaho’s 44 counties and the state’s largest metropolitan area in September when the statewide jobless rate increased a tenth of a point to 9 percent.

Among those where unemployment inched upward was Bonner County, which jobless rates increase to 13.7 percent — up from 12.8 percent. Total dipped slightly in Boundary County, which saw jobless rates drop to 15.6 percent from 16. 4 percent.

Overall, unemployment was down from August in 16 counties and held steady in three.

 Twenty counties posted rates higher than the statewide rate in September, and 16 were in double digits,   down from 17 in August. The highest rate was in Adams County, where unemployment jumped a full percentage point to 19.6 percent in September. Oneida County had the lowest rate at 4.9 percent, down three-tenths from August and the only county with a rate under 5 percent. Four other counties – Owyhee, Franklin, Bear Lake and Madison – had rates under 6 percent. Owyhee, Franklin, Oneida and Lewis were under 6 percent in August.

The September increases followed those in August when rates in 25 counties and the Boise metro area rose as the statewide rate increased slightly to 8.9 percent

Seasonal factors used to calculate the county, metropolitan, labor market area and city unemployment rates were updated this fall to better reflect the shifts in Idaho’s economic patterns because of both the recession that began in December 2007 and the significant economic expansion that preceded it. 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, statisticians and economists are encouraged to use unadjusted data for year-over-year comparisons.

Unemployment in the five-county Boise metropolitan area climbed two-tenths of a point to 9.1 percent despite declines in the jobless rates in both Ada, the state’s most populous county, and Gem counties.

The Lewiston metro area was up six-tenths to 7.5 percent and the Idaho Falls metro area rose two-tenths to 6.7 percent. In the Pocatello metro area, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8 percent.

Only eight of the 44 counties had unemployment rates in September lower than September 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 regional rate at 12 percent, up two-tenths from August, while eastern Idaho had the lowest at 6.9 percent, down a tenth from August.