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The share of Idaho workers earning minimum wage has grown from 5 percent in 2011 to 7.7 percent in 2012. The growth has put Idaho in the top spot for the largest share of minimum wage workers in the country. How did that happen? And what’s being done to reverse the trend?

Idaho's August Jobless Rate Increases To 6.8 Percent

Job fair, unemployment
Emilie Ritter Saunders
/
StateImpact Idaho
Job seekers talk with potential employers at a job fair in Meridian, Idaho.

Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point in August to 6.8 percent.

The Department of Labor says the state's jobless rate has risen seven tenths of a percentage point since April, one of the largest rate increases among the states in the past four months. Still, the rate is down from 7 percent last August.

The number of Idaho workers without jobs was nearly 52,300, the highest total since September 2012.

Department analysts believe more Idahoans may be working multiple jobs to meet the hiring demands of employers and make ends meet. Last year, 24.2 percent of Idaho jobs were part-time, compared to 18.2 percent before the recession.

Idaho's unemployment rate remained below the national rate of 7.3 percent for August.

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