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Idaho's 21 years of job growth will end this year
BY JOE ESTRELLA - jestrella@idahostatesman.com
Published: 10/10/08
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
OTHER RECENT LAYOFFS
Micron Technology is not the only Treasure Valley employer to announce job cuts this year.
Others included:
Hewlett-Packard, which is laying off an undisclosed number of its 3,400 employees in Boise.
Albertsons' parent company, Minneapolis-based Supervalu, which has cut 80 employees in its Boise finance department and 24 information technology staffers.
The Idaho Statesman, owned by the McClatchy Co., has furloughed 31 employees locally during two rounds of layoffs this year. An additional 22 pressroom workers will lose their jobs early next year.
Boise-based DBSI, a privately held commercial real estate investment company, laid off 70 Idaho employees last month.
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center furloughed 40 workers.
Meridian-based CBH Homes and Hubble Homes, the two largest home builders in the Treasure Valley, have laid off 40 and 15 workers, respectively, over the last 18 months.
More than 100 Round Table Pizza employees lost their jobs when the restaurant closed its doors in June.
Even without Micron's job cuts, Idaho will see an end to 21 consecutive years of annual job growth when 2008 comes to a close, the head of the state Department of Labor said Thursday.
According to September employment statistics, there were 11,700 fewer private-sector nonfarm jobs last month than for the comparable month a year ago.
The last year Idaho saw a decline in jobs was 1986, said Department of Labor Director Roger B. Madsen.
"It's been a rough year," Madsen said Thursday after the news broke that Micron Technology will reduce its Boise work force by 1,500 workers over the next two years.
"There really is no good way to spin it."
In the Treasure Valley, Ada County has lost 6,475 jobs year-over-year, while Canyon County employers have shed 2,725 workers.
Some lines of work are faring more poorly than others.
Most of the year-over-year job losses have been in the manufacturing and construction sectors, which have cut 4,200 and 4,250 jobs, respectively, or more than 70 percent of all jobs lost.
Other sectors with major cuts included retail (1,600), professional services (3,200) and administrative and support services (1,200).
As a result, the state's jobless rate climbed from 2.7 percent in September 2007 to 5 percent last month.
Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick said that as of September, the only sectors of the economy to add jobs over the last year were education and health care (2,300), information (400), and other service-related industries (600).
Madsen believes Idaho's unemployment picture is not likely to improve before the second quarter of 2009.
He said at least one good thing may come out of the state's declining job market:
"In the past, we've had companies (with relocation or expansion plans) look at the Treasure Valley and say no because 'There isn't enough work force. Unemployment is too low.' Maybe this will change that."
Joe Estrella: 377-6465
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