BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Idaho’s unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point in March to 5.2 percent, the lowest rate in 5 1/2 years.
The Idaho Department of Labor in a news statement on Friday says it’s the eighth straight monthly decline.
The agency says unemployment has fallen one and a third percentage points in a year, and that more than 11,000 people had jobs in March compared to March 2013.
Construction led the way with the strongest job growth between February and March as the state continues recovering from the bursting of the housing bubble.
The national unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in March, unchanged from February.
The state agency says Idaho’s unemployment rate has been below the national rate for more than 12 years.
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