Employment needs within Idaho’s waste management industry remain reliably consistent over time, reflecting the essential nature of the services it provides. Trash doesn’t take a day off and continues to be generated even during the coldest months of winter, the worst economic recessions and amid unpredictable 100-year pandemics. While trash volume will be dictated in part by consumer behavior, it is more closely associated with population growth.
Between 2014-2024, Idaho added 370,000 new residents and led the nation with a population growth rate of 23%. This was more than three times the U.S. growth rate of 7%.¹ During the same period, as shown in Figure 1, privatized waste management employment in Idaho added more than 2,000 jobs and increased by 98% (compared with 23% growth for the U.S. waste management sector). Like population, Idaho’s private waste management employment experienced the highest growth rate of any U.S. state.²
Figure 1. Waste management private employment and population growth in Idaho, 2014-2024
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages”, 2014-2024. U.S. Census Bureau, “Annual Population Estimates,” 2014-2024
The waste management industry is composed of three major, interrelated activity types including waste collection, waste treatment and disposal, and remediation and other waste management services. The primary operations and recent employment growth of each industry subsector are highlighted below in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Idaho’s total waste management employment by activity type, 2014-2024
Source: Idaho Department of Labor, “Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages,” 2014-2024
Although waste collection roles are the most visible, the highest share of jobs within waste management and remediation services are categorized under waste treatment and disposal operations. This industry segment includes activities like hazardous waste treatment and disposal, operation of solid waste landfills, running solid waste combustors and incinerators and facilitating compost dumps.
On the surface, removing trash may seem straightforward – collect, haul, dump and repeat. However, in practice, waste management involves complex coordination around cost, service reliability, environmental impacts, worker and community safety. The combination of these high operational standards and frequent public interaction, in all weather conditions, requires the waste management workforce to consistently perform with strong situational awareness, efficiency and professionalism. As a result, employment within this industry commands relatively high wage rates.
From January through October 2025, there were over 800 statewide job postings within the waste management and remediation service industry. Of these postings, median annual wage exceeded $52,000, with nearly 30% of postings paying over $70,000. The occupations most in-demand by industry employers include heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, maintenance and repair workers, laborers and material movers, mechanics and diesel engine specialists and general operations managers.³
Job listings focus not only on the necessities of driving and holding a Commercial Driver’s License (generally class A or B), but also problem solving, efficiency, heavy lifting and navigating outdoor weather exposure.
Idaho Department of Labor projections through 2032 estimate Idaho’s waste management workforce will continue to experience strong growth at 2.5% per year and cumulatively add over 1,000 jobs within the industry. This rate is nearly double the 1.3% annual job growth forecast for the total of all industries in the same period.
Lisa.Grigg@labor.idaho.gov, regional economist
Idaho Department of Labor
208-696-2256
Sources:
1 “Annual Population Estimates,” 2014-2024, U.S. Census Bureau, accessed November 2025, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html.
2 “Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages,” 2014-2024, Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed November 2025, https://www.bls.gov/cew/.
3 “Job Posting Analytics,” January-October 2025, Lightcast, accessed November 2025, https://lightcast.io/.
This Idaho Department of Labor project is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor for SFY26 as part of a Workforce Information grant (41%) and state/nonfederal funds (59%) totaling $860,595.
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