Weather Erodes Kootenai Employment

Weather bit into employment in Kootenai County and the Idaho Panhandle in November, according to the state Department of Employment.

Weakness in the lumber products sector economy helped bump the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent from 7.4 percent in October. The closure of the Louisiana-Pacific sawmill in Post Falls also figured into the rise.

“It was mostly due to all the rain that we had,” said Kathryn Tacke, labor analyst at the department of employment in Coeur d’Alene.

The Panhandle rate rose to 8.9 percent from 7.7 percent in October, mostly because the bad weather crimped logging. The Idaho rate rose to 5.6 percent from 5.1 percent, matching the U.S. rate of 5.6 percent.

In Bonner County the rate rose to 9.3 percent from 7.8 percent.

, DataTimes