County jobless rate hits 11.2 percent

The unemployment rate in Boundary County has worsened.

The number of people without jobs in November climbed to 11.2 percent, up from 10.8 percent one month earlier. The rate is the fifth highest among Idaho’s 44 states. Benewah County has the highest at 15.6 percent.

The state’s unemployment rate hit a 15-year record high of 5.8 percent.

The troubled timber industry, the end of the construction season and a lower Canadian exchange rate are some of the reasons for Boundary County’s troubles, said Kathryn Tacke, regional economist with the Idaho Department of Labor in Coeur d’Alene.

Tacke gave the same reasons in October.

“We’re worried about what’s happening continuing to happen, and that the things that were happening are getting worse,” she said.

Tacke doesn’t expect the residential construction industry to rebound come spring.

“It looks like there will be fewer residential construction projects in Bonner and Boundary County than this year,” she said. “In addition, we’re starting to see a drying up of commercial projects with the exceptions of highway projects.”

Enough Boundary County residents work in Bonner County, which had a 7.0 percent unemployment rate in November compared to 3.1 percent one year earlier.

“One of the things you’re seeing right now in Boundary County is you have a long-term decline in employment opportunities and a lot (of people) have been working in Bonner County. Now that Bonner County is taking some hits, it’s effecting Boundary County residents who work there.”

Layoffs swept across the Idaho economy in November, leaving a record 44,100 workers without jobs and sending the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to a 15-year high, according to a news release from the Department of Labor.

More than 8,700 private-sector jobs vanished during the month. While retailers hired during the month, it was less than usual, and jobs in health care and education were essentially unchanged from October. Every other major sector was hit.

The November unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point from October to 5.8 percent, 3.1 percentage points higher than in November 2007. It was the third month  this year that the rate has risen a half point. It was the largest rate increase from October to November on record.