Idaho unemployment rises to 9.5 percent
The Idaho Department of Labor says the state’s December unemployment rate was higher than the national average for the first time in nearly a decade.
Idaho’s projected seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December rose for the fifth straight month to 9.5 percent, leaving 71,900 workers without jobs.
Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped 0.4 points to 9.4 percent for December.
Based on current data, Idaho’s average unemployment rate for 2010 was a record 9.2 percent, breaking the previous record of 9 percent set in 1982.