BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State officials say Idaho’s unemployment rate has dropped to 4.8%, mainly because many people stopped looking for work and were no longer being counted.
The Idaho Department of Labor said Friday that about 862,000 Idaho residents are employed and that about 43,800 are looking for work. About 6,200 people landed a job last month despite the surging coronavirus pandemic hampering the economy.
But so many people stopped looking for work that the state’s labor force shrank, a key number in the formula determining the state’s unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate for November fell from 5.5% in October.