Idaho workers’ overall earnings last in nation

FILE PHOTO

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) – The Idaho Department of Labor says the state ranks last in overall earnings by full- and part-time job holders.

 

The median annual wage in Idaho is $23,192. The department estimates a family of four needs $39,000 a year to sustain itself but only about a third of Idaho jobs last year paid that much.

 

Labor Department spokesman Bob Fick says that is due in part to higher job growth in the low-wage service sector than the production sector, where mining, logging and manufacturing jobs pay more.

 

The Post Register reports since 1990, Idaho has gained 10,000 production jobs while the service sector grew by 210,000 jobs.

 

Fick says as a result, Idaho has one of the highest rates in the nation in which people work more than one job.

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