Oregon Public Broadcasting

Idaho state labor officials say the Gem State economy is in a holding pattern.

The state’s unemployment rate didn't change from June to July. It's still at 8.8 percent. 66,000 Idaho residents are without work.

The state's jobless rate has fallen almost a point since the start of the year.

But Labor Department spokesman Bob Fick says the economy isn't showing many signs of recovery.

Bob Fick: "If you start charting some of these things, you'll see that it looks like we're at the bottom, but we haven't really moved off the bottom. We're just kind of bouncing along and waiting for whatever that one thing is to start the economy moving back up."

Fick says the private sector added about two thousand jobs in July, but governments and public schools shed almost six thousand.

He says businesses around the state continue to be slow to hire new workers.