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Idaho employment better than expected |
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March 4, 2012 |
Revised employment figures for 2010 and 2011
indicate the recession was not as hard on Idaho
workers as originally estimated, and new January
2012 unemployment estimates reinforce the
state’s continued economic improvement.
 New figures revised by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics based on more recent population
estimates and employment data show thousands
more Idahoans were working the past two years
and fewer were unemployed. That dropped the
average unemployment rate for both years a half
percentage point to 8.7 percent in 2010 and 8.8
percent in 2011.
The new estimates also indicate Idaho is pulling
out of the recession more slowly than other
states. While Idaho’s 2010 average jobless rate
ranked 28th among the states, the 8.8 percent
rate for 2011 ranked 31st.
At no time during the recession did unemployment
in Idaho exceed 9 percent, well below original
estimates that put the monthly rate at or above
9 percent for 20 of the 24 months. Neither did
it exceed the national rate, maintaining a
string of over 11 years that the state rate has
been below the nation’s. Instead of peaking at
9.7 percent from December 2010 through March
2011 as originally estimated, Idaho’s
unemployment rate peaked at 8.9 percent from
August through December 2010 and then hit 8.9
percent again in July 2011 before a steady
decline to 8.3 percent in December 2011,
dropping further to 8.1 percent in January. The
national rate was 8.3 percent in January.
January’s rate was Idaho’s lowest monthly
jobless rate since September 2009. Idaho workers
with jobs rose another 1,900 from December to
712,600, the seventh straight monthly increase
in employment to its highest level since
November 2008. Fewer than 63,000 workers were
without jobs in January, down 1,700 from
December and the lowest number of unemployed
since November 2009.
The new employment figures are supported by the
latest estimates for nonfarm jobs across the
state. Employers had essentially leveled out
their payrolls in 2010 and began hiring again,
albeit cautiously, in January 2011. Payrolls
expanded monthly through the year compared to
the previous year, ending 2011 with 5,400 more
jobs than at the end of 2010. It was the first
year since 2006 that employers increased
payrolls over the previous year.
The revised picture for 2010 and 2011 was
influenced heavily by more accurate population
estimates for Idaho than were available when
original estimates were made. That led to
substantial increases in both the statewide
labor force and the number of workers who had
jobs over the past two years.
Total employment has exceeded 700,000 for the
past 12 months, and unemployment, originally
thought to have peaked at 74,000 last winter,
never got above 69,000 during the recession and
its aftermath.
While the year-over-year job loss at 7.4 percent
in mid-2009 remains the worst in Idaho since
World War II, the revised employment figures do
not approach unemployment during the double-dip
recession of the early 1980s when the jobless
rate hit 9.6 percent in December 1982 through
February 1983.
February employment data and local area
employment data for January will be released
March 23. |
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