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Construction boosts Kootenai job picture

Workers lift bags of mortar inside the steel skeleton of the Chinook medical building going up last spring in Coeur d'Alene. Building construction helped fuel job growth last year in Kootenai County. (File/ / The Spokesman-Review)
By Becky Kramer beckyk@spokesman.com(509) 459-5466
Workers lift bags of mortar inside the steel skeleton of the Chinook medical building going up last spring in Coeur d'Alene. Building construction helped fuel job growth last year in Kootenai County. (File/ / The Spokesman-Review)

The construction industry played a starring role in Kootenai County’s economy last year, creating nearly one out of every four new jobs.

“You just can’t mention construction too often. It’s one of the main reasons for growth,” said Kathryn Tacke, a regional economist for the state of Idaho.

Kootenai County’s job rolls grew by 4,100 in 2005, according to state figures released Friday. About 1,000 of those new jobs were created amid the whine of power saws and rumble of cement trucks. The county issued a record number of building permits last year, fueling the demand for workers to build houses, stores and commercial office space. Growth in the building trades helped the county finish the year with an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent – the lowest figure in 35 years of record keeping.

The state of Idaho also posted record-low unemployment for 2005. Just 3.4 percent of the state’s residents were looking for work last year. It was the second year of record job growth for the state and the region.

“The number of new jobs has been so amazing … that I’ve run out of superlatives,” Tacke said.

Neighboring counties shared the wealth from the construction boom. Most areas of North Idaho experienced increases in building activity of 30 percent of more, Tacke said.

In rural Benewah County, one of the most timber-dependent regions of North Idaho, construction activity doubled last year. Demand for vacation and retirement homes in scenic settings near lakes and rivers accounted for part of the increase. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe also initiated several large construction projects, including a new senior apartment complex.

Other industries also added workers in 2005. Call centers advertised for new employees, along with factories and many areas of the service sector, including the tourism industry. Growth in paychecks translated into additional spending at retail stores, which also beefed up staffing, Tacke said.

Rural areas shared in the prosperity. Unemployment rates fell in most areas of the Idaho Panhandle over the past year. Despite the gains, North Idaho still had three of the five counties with the largest percentage of people out of work in 2005.

Benewah, Shoshone and Boundaries had unemployment rates topping 7 percent last year. Idaho counties with the highest unemployment rates were Clearwater (9.4 percent) and Adams (8.2 percent.)