Tag Archives: Employment

Around Idaho: July 2016 Economic Activity

Information provided in this article 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

Kootenai County

  • Post Falls has begun a $14.75 million project to upgrade its water reclamation facility to meet the dual goals of river cleanup and odor abatement. The project, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, will reduce the odor pollution which often affects surrounding neighborhoods. The upgrades will also improve the purification of the wastewater, which the facility discharges into the Spokane River. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press

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Changes in Workforce Participation Composition Perplexing

There are many indicators of economic health, but perhaps none as perplexing to economists in recent years as the “labor force participation rate.” This rate measures the percentage of the available population which is either working or looking for work. The general purpose of the statistic is to answer the question, “of the people who could work, what percentage of them are in the workforce?” The definition of “available” has many conditions – one can’t be in prison nor the military, nor be on disability and must be above the age of 16.

For reasons not yet clear, the labor force participation rate has been experiencing a significant decline in recent years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates the overall participation rate has decreased from 66 percent in 2004 to only 62.9 percent in 2014; a change that amounts to nearly eight million people who opted out of work.

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Around Idaho: June 2016 Economic Activity

Information provided in this article 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

  • Bonner County has agreed to grant Quest Aircraft a package of tax exemptions in recognition of the company’s expansion plans. The exemptions come under a provision in Idaho code which allow a company to declare all or partial market value as tax exempt provided the company spends a minimum of $3 million on business improvements over a five year period. Source: Bonner County Daily Bee

Kootenai County

  • Several new restaurants and retail stores opened in Kootenai County, mostly in the northern and western areas around new housing developments. The Prairie Shopping Center in northern Coeur d’Alene continues to grow. Coeur d’Alene is running out of space against the lake and river in the south, which increasingly sent new business establishments and housing developments northward. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press
  • A Montana-based builder has announced plans to construct a new three-story, 52-unit apartment building in downtown Coeur d’Alene. Glenn Construction Co., confirmed it has purchased land and is currently working with the city to approve a design that will accentuate Coeur d’Alene’s downtown aesthetics. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press
  • Coeur d’Alene is in the process of a major downtown public works project which includes overhauling parking lots, city streets and pedestrian corridors around City Park and the lakefront. The goal is to better facilitate the large crowds that descend on the area for events like Ironman Triathlon and Independence Day. Source: Spokesman Review
  • Kootenai County’s Fairgrounds and Airport hosted a large training exercise which included state and local law enforcement and emergency services from Idaho and Washington, as well as federal agencies. The exercise was designed to test preparedness to respond to a major earthquake event along the Cascadia fault line. In such an earthquake scenario, northern Idaho would be expected to be a key evacuation point for Washington and Oregon residents on the Pacific Coast. Source: Spokesman Review

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Examining Idaho’s Strong Job Growth from Industry / Wage Perspective

In March, Idaho had the distinction of being the leader nationally in the percentage growth of non farm jobs over the previous year. As a share of its economy, Idaho added the most jobs of any state — 3.6 percent over the past year, followed by Oregon and Utah, both at 3.3 percent, and Tennessee and Washington each at 3.2 percent.

Fig.1_Year-to_Year Continue reading →

Job Separations Rising in Idaho Which Is Good News for Economy

The unemployment rate is one of the most widely referenced indicators of economic health. Separations – people leaving jobs – can have a large impact on the rate. Some may view this as a negative indicator of economic strength – more separations mean a weaker job market – but that is not always the case as it depends on why people leave their jobs. Recently, data suggests separations are increasing and approaching the same levels during the recession, but this is actually a good thing.

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Around Idaho: Economic Activity in May 2016

Information provided in this article has been gathered from various sources throughout the state, including 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

Region

  • According to a new report from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association, homelessness in the five northern counties increased by 5 percent from 2015, including a 35 percent increase in the number of homeless people without access to shelter. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press

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More Idahoans Postponing Retirement

For more than two decades, older Americans have opted to stay in the labor force longer, while younger Americans have reduced their labor force participation. Women are likely to continue working in their 60s. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the share of older working women has grown while the percentage of every other category of U.S. worker – by gender and age – has declined or remained flat. In 1992, one in 12 American women worked past age 65. Now, around one in seven do. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that number grow to almost one in five by 2024.

Idaho also has seen large increases in labor force participation for senior workers — 62 percent for men and 129 percent for women — while other workers’ participation declined or remained flat.

Chart-1Source: U.S. Census Bureau

In 1992, one in 18 Idaho women worked past age 65. Now, around one in seven do — the same ratio as the nation.

With baby boomers in their 50s and 60s swelling the ranks of older workers and their labor force participation on the rise, Idaho workers 55 and over grew by 161 percent, from 64,300 in December 1995 to 167,500 in December 2015, according to the Current Population Survey, the monthly survey conducted by the Census Bureau to track unemployment in the U.S. Over the same period, Idaho’s labor force 25 to 54 years of age doubled from 145,200 to 296,100.

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Signs Point to Positive Growth in Southeastern Idaho

Recent employment and economic projections indicate southeastern Idaho’s economy may finally be heating up.

For much of the last decade, southeastern Idaho’s economy has struggled to grow. Impacted by the previous recession, covered employment in the region increased less than 2 percent from 2004 to 2014. While the region saw impressive growth leading up to the recession, growing 8 percent from 2004 to 2007, employment in the region began to fall as the housing crisis affected the economy. After peaking in 2007, the region lost jobs the following four years. By 2011, covered employment in southeastern Idaho had fallen by more than 5,000 jobs.

Although the region began adding jobs each year since 2011, the tepid growth has done little to make up for the jobs lost during the recession. By the end of 2014, total covered employment was still 3,500 jobs shy of the region’s pre-recession peak, and total job growth over the decade increased less than 2 percent – well below the statewide growth of 10 percent over the same time.

QCEW1

Wage growth in the region has proven more resilient. The average wage in the region has increased from $26,370 in 2004 to $33,687 by 2014, growing by an annual average of 2.5 percent over the decade. This outpaced the statewide annual growth by a tenth of a percent. It should be noted however, that after accounting for inflation the actual buying power for the average wage earner improved slightly more than 2 percent over the decade.

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Around Idaho: Economic Activity in March 2016

Information provided in this article has been gathered from various sources throughout the state, including 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

Kootenai County

  • Summit Cancer Centers, a national cancer-care chain of clinics, announced the opening of its newest clinic in Post Falls. The 11,000 square foot clinic is located on the campus of Northwest Specialty Hospital and will offer local residents access to cutting-edge and personalized oncology. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press
  • Kootenai Medical Center opened a 100,000 square foot expansion on March 15. The new wing includes additional patient rooms, a family birthing center and neonatal care unit. The hospital has already announced an additional phase of expansion, which will expand the emergency department and offer more room to support departments to accommodate an increasing rising number of patient visits. Source: Coeur d’Alene Press

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Educated People Moving to Idaho, Growth Concentrated in Cities

Migration into Idaho is, in some ways, a study of contrasts. While Idaho ranks 16th in the nation for state-to-state migration of people over 25 years old, 99 percent of that migration is into the Boise metro area. In 2014, 3,104 adults moved from another state into Idaho of which 3,066 moved to one of the six counties that encompass Idaho’s Treasure Valley. The only other places in Idaho that saw a positive flow from outside of the state were Coeur d’Alene (Kootenai County) and the Magic Valley, though still low. Because the Lewiston metro area straddles the state line, it was excluded from this analysis which examined only state-to-state and metro-to-state flows.1-Net-I_state-Migration

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

2-Idaho-Interstate-Gain_LossSource: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

Most adults moving into Idaho had a high school diploma but no college experience nor a post-secondary degree. In fact, for every one adult with a bachelor’s degree or higher who moved in, five adults with no more than a high school diploma moved into Idaho at the same time. This ratio improves with adults who had some college experience or an associate’s degree; for each one of these adults who moved into the state, two with no more than a high school diploma also moved in.

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