BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nearly 25,000 people returned to work in June as Idaho’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.6%. The Idaho Department of Labor on Friday attributed last month’s 3.4% drop to the state’s economy reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.
But cases of COVID-19 have been increasing sharply in recent weeks, and highly populated Ada County that includes Boise reverted to more restrictions in late June and shut down bars.
The Labor Department says that for June, the number of unemployed Idahoans dropped to about 50,000. Idaho had more than 13,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 114 deaths through Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.