Jobless Rate Down In Kootenai

Kootenai County’s unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in January - a full point lower than last year.

“A lot of it is weather connected,” said Kathyrn Tacke, a state labor analyst, noting that the weather has been “pretty providential” for ski resorts and construction activity.

Benewah County continued to post the Panhandle’s highest unemployment rate, 12.2 percent, largely due to the closure of a mill destroyed by fire this summer.

Shoshone County’s 11.7 percent unemployment rate increased a percentage point from last year. That’s partly because the wet weather makes it more difficult for loggers to get trees out of the woods, Tacke said.

Bonner County’s unemployment rate was 8.3 percent, up from 7.6 percent last year; and Boundary County’s rate was 8.1 percent, compared with 7.8 percent a year ago.

Two events in late January - the closure of a Crown Pacific mill in Colburn and the Coldwater Creek call center in Sandpoint - aren’t reflected in January’s numbers. They will show up in February’s report, Tacke said.