Idaho Department of Labor Releases Service Plan for Payette, Emmett and Mountain Home areas

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Sept. 20, 2019
Information Contact: Georgia Smith, (208) 332-3570 ext. 2102

The Idaho Department of Labor has implemented its new service model in the Payette, Emmett and Mountain Home areas, providing direct mobile services to nine communities.

Labor staff will offer walk-in hours and appointment times in these communities with the same services staff have traditionally provided. Those include resume writing, applying for jobs, filing for unemployment insurance benefits, mock interviews, connections to community resources, job training assistance and more. Staff will also continue to serve businesses with listing open jobs, collecting applications, connecting to resources and assisting with recruitment.

Jani Revier, Labor director, said many rural citizens who have not traditionally had easy access to in-person Labor services should be better served by this model.

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Idaho’s August Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 2.9 Percent

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Sept. 20, 2019
Information Contact: Craig Shaul (208) 332-3570 ext. 3201 or Karen Jarboe Singletary (208) 332-3570 ext. 3215

Over-The-Year Nonfarm Job Growth Remains Strong

Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 2.9 percent in August, the 21st consecutive month at or below 3 percent.

An additional 2,815 people made themselves available for work in August, pushing Idaho’s seasonally adjusted labor force up to 879,220. The number of unemployed increased by 433 to 25,492. Total employment grew by 2,382 to 853,728.

Idaho’s labor force participation rate – the percentage of people age 16 years or older working or looking for work – was 64 percent.

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Around Idaho: Economic Activity in August 2019

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Information provided in these news updates is from professional sources, news releases, weekly and daily newspapers, television and other media.

Northern Idaho
North Central Idaho
Southwestern Idaho
South Central Idaho
Southeastern
Eastern Idaho

 

NORTHERN IDAHO – Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai & Shoshone counties

Bonner County

  • Tamarack Aerospace Group is moving forward with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and received U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to move forward with a financing plan that will allow the company to resume its sales. Source: Spokane-Kootenai Journal of Business

Kootenai County

  • TDS Metrocom, a Wisconsin-based telecommunications company, has begun constructing a new fiber optic network in Coeur d’Alene, which will eventually offer high-speed residential connectivity. TDS currently has a staff of 11 people in Coeur d’Alene, but expects to ramp up to as many as 200 employees by 2022, at which point the company anticipates having installed more than 700 miles of fiber. Eventually, TDS expects to be able to serve roughly 48,000 residences and business in Kootenai County. Source: Spokane-Kootenai Journal of Business
  • The city of Post Falls is moving forward to create a 548-acre urban renewal district encompassing the city’s downtown district. A report from the city council noted that 151 of the 674 structures in the district were in a state of deterioration, while the area also suffered from a lack of sidewalks, unfinished streets and underdeveloped tracts. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press
  • The Red Lion Templin’s Hotel in Post Falls is undergoing a complete renovation by its new owners, KVA Management. Improvements include a renovation of all 163 guestrooms, a renovated lobby and a new restaurant and kitchen. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press

Openings

  • Sawmill Grille in Post Falls
  • Beau Monde Luxe in Coeur d’Alene
  • Farmhouse 208

Sam.Wolkenhauer@labor.idaho.gov, regional economist
Idaho Department of Labor
(208) 457-8789 ext. 4451

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Idaho Department of Labor Releases Rexburg Area Service Plan

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Sept. 5, 2019
Information Contact: Georgia Smith, (208) 332-3570 ext. 2102

The Idaho Department of Labor has implemented its new service model in the Rexburg area, providing direct mobile services to Rexburg, Driggs, St. Anthony and Ashton.

Labor staff will offer walk-in hours and appointment times in all four communities with the same services staff have traditionally provided. Those include resume writing, applying for jobs, filing for unemployment insurance benefits, mock interviews, connections to community resources, job training assistance and more. Staff will also continue to serve businesses with listing open jobs, collecting applications, connecting to resources and assisting with recruitment.

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Serve Idaho Accepting Requests for Proposals for 2020 Conference

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Sept. 11, 2019
Information Contact: Kirstin Mann, (208) 332-3578 ext. 3930

Serve Idaho is requesting proposals for presentations at its annual conference, March 4, 2020. This year’s theme is Learning, Leading, Serving. Organizers are looking for proposals covering a broad range of topics in volunteer management, leadership and professional development.

The conference brings together a community of nonprofit/public leaders and volunteer coordinators from across Idaho to learn and discuss how to better engage their communities, organizations and volunteers.

The purpose of the conference is to foster diverse and inclusive environments, as well as to learn best practices, strategies and new ways of doing business from the state’s best thinkers and practitioners of service and volunteerism.

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Idaho Apprenticeships Help Meet the Demand for Health Care Workers

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Creating career pathways helps the medical industry and the state meet local workforce needs
nurse and two students at table

A Saint Alphonsus nurse explains the proper use of gloves, to Linda Akike, and another student. (Photo courtesy of College of Western Idaho)

Linda Akike came to Boise from the Republic of Congo. She always dreamed of being a nurse, so when she heard she could enroll in a program that may lead to a full-time job at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, she leaped at the chance.

Akike learned about a new pre-apprenticeship program offered by the Idaho Department of Labor and the College of Western Idaho (CWI) through the International Rescue Committee in Boise.  The CWI class offers 80 hours of instruction and training to prepare job seekers for an Environmental Services position in health care, and potentially a full-on career in the future.

The class trains people for environmental service work in a hospital and helps people like Akike, for whom English is a second language, learn English-speaking skills and health care vocabulary terms she’ll need to know.

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Idaho Stores Grow Despite ‘Retail Apocalypse’

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Idaho retail employment grew 2.5 percent between 2016 and 2018, despite a national spate of store closures and employment declines.

With many retail chains closing hundreds of stores across the U.S., headlines about a “retail apocalypse” have appeared on news sites. Last year, according to Coresight Research, 5,524 stores across the United States closed. In the first eight months of this year, 8,051 closed. This year closures could exceed the record set in 2017, when 8,139 stores were shuttered. Challenger, Gray & Christmas counts 53,248 announced retail job cuts for the first half of this year, compared with 98,563 for all of last year.

Between 2016 and 2018, employment in U.S. retail stores fell 0.2 percent, while employment at Idaho’s retail stores grew 2.5 percent, from 81,265 to 83,330. Between June 2018 and June 2019, retail store jobs in the U.S. fell 0.5 percent, while they rose 1.8 percent in Idaho, adding 1,600 jobs.

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Serve Idaho Accepting Idaho’s Brightest Star Nominations

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Sept. 3, 2019
Information Contact: Renee Bade, (208) 332-3578 ext. 4061

Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, is accepting nominations for the annual Idaho’s Brightest Star Awards. The awards recognize outstanding Idaho volunteers in a variety of categories. Nominations will be accepted until Oct. 11, 2019.

Nomination forms can be found at ServeIdaho.gov. The submission categories are:

  • Individual
  • Student – 19 years-old and younger
  • Veteran
  • Individual – 55 years-old and older
  • Business
  • Nonprofit/Civic Organization
  • Teacher/Professor

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Governor Appoints Serve Idaho Commissioners

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Aug. 19, 2019
Information Contact: Renee Bade, (208) 332-3578 ext. 4061

Gov. Brad Little appointed three new commissioners to Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism. Brady Fuller of Boise, Katie Roberts of Nampa and Kayeloni Scott of Lapwai, were appointed in July.

“Our commissioners bring a wealth of knowledge and energy to the commission as well as first-hand knowledge of the benefits and rewards of service in our communities,” said Renee Bade, program manager for Serve Idaho.

From left, Brady Fuller, Katie Roberts and Keyeloni Scott

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Serve Idaho Commissioner Appointed to National Board

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NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Aug. 26, 2019
Information Contact: Renee Bade, (208) 332-3578 ext. 4061

Charlette Kremer of Lewiston has been appointed to the America’s Service Commissions (ASC) board of directors. In her role on the national board she will help promote national service and act as an advocate for state service commissions on a national level. She joins the board of 24 in representing the Pacific cluster of 10 states and one territory.

photo of Char Kremer

Charlette Kremer

Kremer is retired from Lewis-Clark State College where she served as the director of grants and contracts. Previously she oversaw the Lewis-Clark Service Corps, a statewide AmeriCorps program that provides tutoring and mentoring in k-12 and within the prison system. She is an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) alum having served with the Lewis-Clark Service Corps where she developed the Community Warriors Volunteer Center and service-learning programs.

Former Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appointed Kremer to Serve Idaho, the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism in 2014. Kremer continues to serve as a commissioner. Program supervisor Renee Bade said, “We are extremely excited that Ms. Kremer will bring her extensive national service expertise and passion for Idaho to the ASC board.”

To learn more about Serve Idaho and volunteering, visit the Serve Idaho Facebook page or ServeIdaho.gov.

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Serve Idaho, a division of the Idaho Department of Labor, encourages voluntary public service and volunteerism throughout the state. The Serve Idaho Commission is funded in part by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Idaho Department of Labor.