Idaho’s April Unemployment Rate Falls to Historic Low of 2.6%

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: May 20, 2022
Media Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.6% in April, down from March's rate of 2.7%. April's rate marks the third consecutive month of historic lows since record keeping began in 1976.

The number of Idahoans employed or looking for work grew by 4,770 people (0.5%) to 937,023. Labor force participation increased by 0.1 percentage points between March and April to 62.1%. Idaho's peak participation rate reached 71.4% in September 1998.

Total employment grew from March by 5,409 (0.6%) to 912,953 while total unemployment dropped by 639 (-2.6%) to 24,070.

According to Help Wanted Online, there were 49,443 online job postings in Idaho during April, or 2.1 job openings for every unemployed Idahoan looking for work.

Idaho's nonfarm jobs exceeded expectations in April, with an increase of 3,000 jobs to 815,500. Total nonfarm jobs in Idaho were 5.3% above the February 2020 pre-pandemic peak. Industry sectors with the greatest over-the-month gains include natural resources (4.3%), wholesale trade (2%), professional and business services (1.8%), private educational services (1.5%) and nondurable goods manufacturing (1.3%).

Industries with the greatest job declines include arts, entertainment, and recreation (-2%); information (-1.3%) and other services (-1.1%).

Twin Falls experienced the fastest over-the-month nonfarm job gains among the state's Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), increasing by 1.4%. Lewiston saw a nonfarm job increase of 1%, followed by Idaho Falls and Pocatello with 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. Coeur d'Alene experienced the only decrease of 0.3%. Boise saw no change.

Year over Year

Idaho's unemployment rate was down 1.2 percentage points from April 2021. The labor force was up 2.5%, an increase of 22,901 people.

The number of unemployed Idahoans dropped 31.3% (-10,973) from April 2021, while the number of employed rose 3.9% (33,874).

Idaho's nonfarm jobs total increased by 3.2% (25,200) over April 2021. Every major industry sector showed over-the-year job increases except for federal government (-2.9%).

All six of Idaho's MSAs saw year-over-year nonfarm job gains. Twin Falls saw the largest increase with 5.6%, followed by Idaho Falls (5.1%), Pocatello (4.3%), Coeur d'Alene (3.6%), Boise (3.2%) and Lewiston (1.7%).

National Comparisons

Nationally, unemployment went mostly unchanged with the unemployment rate remaining at 3.6% in April and the number of unemployed down 13,068 to 5.9 million. The national unemployment rate was 0.1 percentage points above its pre-pandemic rate of 3.5% in February 2020. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 428,000 (0.3%) to 151.3 million and was 1% below pre-pandemic levels.

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* Editors / News Directors - please note:
Today's full report can be viewed on the state's labor market information website.

Upcoming Idaho Release Schedule:
June 17, 2022: Labor Force and Nonfarm Jobs Data for May 2022

The full release calendar for 2022 is available at https://www.labor.idaho.gov/dnn/lmicalendar

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