Small Town News

Adams County posts record high unemployment numbers

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In October Adams County posted the highest unemployment rate that any Idaho county has tallied since 1982, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

The unemployment rate of 19.8 percent in Adams County is the highest county jobless rate since Idaho County posted a 19.9 percent rate in February 1982 during the state's last severe recession.

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 Pocatellodrove 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.

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.

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.



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