New IdahoWorks FAQ for Employers

Beginning in mid-June 2015, the Idaho Department of Labor is launching a new IdahoWorks, the free online system businesses use to post jobs and recruit workers. ​As the launch date nears, more information will be added to this list, so please check back often.

In order to launch the new system, the job search, job posting and the unemployment insurance systems will be temporarily unavailable starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 10 until 7 a.m. Monday, June 15. 

Q. What is the new IdahoWorks?

A. It is a user-friendly Web-based workforce development system that connects job seekers to jobs, employers to qualified talent and workforce professionals to tools that improve efficiency and employment outcomes. It is powered by the America’s Job Link Alliance. Continue reading →

Change in Idaho Manufacturing Mix Significant

Over the past two decades, manufacturing with its traditionally higher-paying jobs has become a smaller and smaller component of both the national and Idaho economies.

Manufacturing in Idaho has staged a modest rebound since the end of the recession, primarily in food processing – the lowest-paying piece of the three-part manufacturing super sector. But it still remained well below its 1990 levels although in 2013 manufacturing accounted for a greater percentage of Idaho jobs than it did nationally.

Even with that gain, however, the composition of Idaho’s manufacturing sector has changed significantly over the past 20 years even as its overall economic impact has declined. What was essentially a fairly even split of jobs among nondurable production like food processing, resource manufacturing like wood products, and other durables like computer chips and machinery, has become dominated by production of other durables as wood products manufacturing steadily contracted. Continue reading →

2015 Outlook for Idaho Businesses

Idaho’s economic growth has been disappointingly slow since the recession ended, however, the last half of 2014 saw it pick up a bit. Many economists expect to see increased growth. The U.S. economy is primed, with consumption and investment expected to surge and government to remain neutral. Trade – partly because of a weakening global economy and partly because of a surge in the value of the dollar is predicted to be the only thing that slows the country’s recovery. Continue reading →

Employer Quarterly Tax Reports Move Online

All Idaho employers are now required to file quarterly unemployment insurance reports online at labor.idaho.gov/employerportal. As of Jan. 1, 2015, quarterly reports are only available online at labor.idaho.gov/employerportal.

Q: Why did Idaho move to online tax reporting services?

A: Online filing saves taxpayer dollars and results in greater accuracy when calculating taxes due. Additionally, payments can be scheduled in advance, up to the due date.

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Idaho’s Population Growth Slowed During Recession

Idaho’s population growth dropped from an annual average of 2.7 percent prior to the recession to  0.7 percent through the recession and into the recovery.

Much of the growth was slowed by the loss of Idaho’s 20-somethings and 45- to 49-year-old population bloc. In 2010 alone, over 10,000 20- to 29-year-olds left Idaho — a loss of 4.5 percent and an anomaly over the past decade. Since then, the rate of 20- to 24-year-olds has been rebounding while the state continues to show losses in the 25- to-29-year-old bloc. As of 2013, there was no net change in that age group, offering hope that age group is coming back.

The drop in 20-somethings through the recession illustrates how mobile the workforce has become. As more opportunities arise elsewhere, workers will migrate.

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Idahoans Benefit from Falling Oil Prices

After years of rising gasoline prices Idahoans are getting a reprieve, but as the state further integrates into the global economy, the ramifications of falling – or rising – oil prices become more complicated.

What is Driving the Drop in Prices?

crude oil table

Over the past four years global oil production has grown from roughly 85 million barrels per day to 90.1 million, largely due to the significant technological advancements in hydraulic fracturing – fracking. This has allowed producers to extract oil from shale formations previously thought unviable.

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Six Signs You’ve Found a Job You Love

Finding your passion and purpose, or doing what you love, can be difficult at best. At worst, some people feel like they spend their entire lives searching for a job they truly love. A person’s career can be a fun and exciting journey of finding new opportunities and trying out different job duties, but there are some steps you can take to ensure you set yourself up for success and find a job you love.

Knowing yourself, your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, can have a big impact on the type of career path you choose and ultimately how happy you will be at work.

With the Idaho Career Information System, CIS, you can research more than 500 different careers and discover what some of the daily duties and working conditions are to see if your interests match up. For some, working on a computer designing websites would be perfect. For others who love to be outside all the time, this would be their worst nightmare. Use the Idaho Career Information System to easily compare these occupations as well as others side-by-side.

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How are Servers Compensated During Wait Times?

Food servers often experience down times during their shifts when they find themselves waiting for customers, which raises the question: Is it legal for businesses to pay servers below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour while they are waiting for customers, and, subsequently, not earning any tips? Tipped employees in Idaho earn $3.35 per hour.

While it may appear to be an easy question, it is actually more complicated. Oftentimes, follow-up questions are necessary to determine if work is still being performed and if it’s considered compensable time.

During work time when a tipped employee is not receiving tips, he or she will still be paid the tipped minimum wage but it is based on the average for the pay period. Hours worked and tips received must equal no less than Idaho’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

For example, if a pay period is one week and an employee works 40 hours, 10 of which were not serving but engaged in other work, the average of the employee’s hourly wage plus tips for the 40 hours must be $7.25 per hour minimum — $290 for the week..

Learn more about wage requirements for tipped employees here.

Whether an employee needs to be paid also depends on whether he or she is on or off duty.

Continue reading →

Responding to Unemployment Claims Online Saves Employers Time

Employers can now receive and respond to unemployment insurance claims online, saving time, money and potential tax amount increases.

In Idaho, all employers are now required to respond to unemployment insurance claims within seven days.

“If employers fail to respond to unemployment claims, their tax amount will increase,” said Tyler Smith, unemployment insurance technical services specialist.

SIDES / eResponse, the State Information Data Exchange System, provides a free online site for small businesses to respond to state unemployment insurance requests quickly, easily and accurately.

Errors such as incorrect addresses, lost mail or delays can result in employers paying more unemployment insurance than they should be responsible for. These errors are now avoidable by using SIDES.

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February Economic Activity Around Idaho

Information provided in this article has been gathered from various sources throughout the state, including weekly and daily newspapers, television and other media.

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

Statewide Economic Highlights

  • Idaho’s 50 wineries received $17 million in revenues in 2013 with a larger overall economic impact of $169 million, according to the Idaho Business Review’s report on a new study by Stonebridge Research Group for the Idaho Wine Commission. The study shows the number of wineries is increasing far faster than the bottles of wine produced, and more than a third of revenues come from direct-to-consumer sales rather than shipping to stores in Idaho and elsewhere. The state went from 11 wineries in 2002 to 50 in 2013. It now has 51.

Continue reading →