Slight drop in Idaho joblessness

Employers across Idaho’s economy maintained payrolls at higher levels than typical for October, pushing Idaho’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down another two-tenths of a point to 8.8 percent, the lowest level in nearly two years.

It was the second straight month that Idaho’s jobless rate has been below the national rate, which fell just a tenth of a point to 9 percent. Unemployment in Idaho has declined six-tenths of a percentage point in the last three months and eight-tenths from the record 9.7 percent in December through March.

The number of workers with jobs rose 2,300 from September to 692,700. It was the second largest one-month employment increase since November 2006. The largest was 3,200 in April during an economic growth spurt that sputtered as summer arrived.

Kootenai County, which has had unemployment in double digits for more than a year, posted substantial declines to fall below 11 percent in October.