Regional news

Regional labor market information

Figure 1.

Southwestern Idaho job postings	Oct-25	Oct-24
Unique postings	12,172	9,613
Days posted	9	15
Number of employers	2,585	2,240
Median hourly wage	$29.97	$28.74
Percentage of postings with advertised wage	57%	52%
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• The urban counties carried the greatest demand for workers with 78% of the job postings, while Canyon County’s share was 17%. Elmore, Valley and Payette counties made up the residual, each with about 1.5% of job postings.

• The 27% uptick in demand for workers is significantly higher than the previous October’s change when job postings were 3.7% higher over the year. There is not a typical season for job demand in October, considered a volatile month that includes retail, agricultural and educational services hiring. It is too early to tell if the higher number of job postings from more employers resulted in a greater number of hires as there continues to be rumors of businesses stockpiling resumes for the future without plans to hire immediately.

Figure 2.

Top 10 occupations by unique job postings in southwestern Idaho	Postings, Oct-25	Postings, Oct-24
Registered nurses	366	295
Retail salespersons	283	323
Customer service representatives	245	165
Software developers	231	178
Trailer-tractor truck drivers	218	149
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	207	206
Project managers	176	126
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	168	141
Janitors and cleaners	159	69
Business development and sales manager	138	135
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Most of these jobs are service jobs with about half being front-facing jobs. These jobs require some type of certification, educational degree, except for the janitorial and cleaner positions that have a high turnover rate.

Figure 3.

Top 10 industries by unique job postings in southwestern Idaho	Postings, Oct-25	Postings, Oct-24
General medical and surgical hospitals	660	610
Insurance agencies and brokerages	566	38
Direct health and medical insurance carriers	299	268
Engineering services	239	191
Supermarkets and other grocery (except conveniencestores)	213	264
Postal service	207	n.a.
Other general government support	194	206
Limited-service restaurants	185	125
All other telecommunications	172	146
Semiconductor and related device manufacturing	171	243
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Most hires are to replace existing positions due to turnover whether it be quitting or retirement. In this list, many of these industries experience turnover. For example, semiconductor manufacturing could be planning for future needs with current hires to ensure training is more seamless.

Figure 4.

Top 10 hardest-to-fill occupations in southwestern Idaho	Median duration, Oct-25	Unique postings, Oct-25
Fast food and counter workers	16 days	72
Retail salespersons	15 days	279
Laborers and freight, stock and material movers, hand	15 days	140
Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel	15 days	127
Sales managers	15 days	122
Secretaries and administrative assistants, Except legal, medical and executive	15 days	100
Managers, all other	15 days	98
Cashiers	15 days	98
Driver and sales workers	15 days	91
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products	15 days	81
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• New nationally known fast-food restaurants are opening across the Treasure Valley leading to employment. Raising Canes opened in Meridian and announced they hired 170 workers, a combination of full and part-time workers. The holiday season started with some large box stores, including Target and Home Depot, that announced substantially lower sales over 2025. It may be that hiring follows this same trajectory.

Regional news

Ada County

• WinCo Foods was recently ranked No. 2 nationally among 100 other companies with an employee stock ownership program (ESOP).  WinCo Foods fell into the category of 20,000 employee owners and received the award from the National Center for Employee Ownership. To be selected, a company must have at least 50% employee ownership while WinCo Foods is 100% employee owned. It started in Boise in 1967 as Waremart, then reorganized as an ESOP in 1985 after the death of its founder. The company has expanded from Idaho and Oregon to Washington, Utah, California, Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Texas and Oklahoma. Source: Wincofoods.com and Idaho Business Review

• The communities of Middleton and Star needed a super majority, or 66.67% approval, of a $22.225 million levy each intended to staff and train  employees at its new fire station. Both communities voted to approve the fire district’s levy but not to the extent needed: Middleton supported it with 50.79% and Star with 59.49% in favor. The fire station will be empty for now. Source: Idaho News 6

• Boise tax base supported an $11 million levy to buy land for recreation and environmental protection. The levy will add $10 for every $100,000 of taxable assessed property value, passing by 80.7% of the vote. Over 37,000 Boiseans voted for the levy with 9,000 voters opposed. Source: Idaho Statesman

• The SPARROW Boise, a downtown Boise hotel, landed on Conde Nast Traveler’s list of the top 50 best hotels in the world. It was the only Idaho hotel to rank on the 2025 list. The SPARROW aligns with the Boise vibe with local art throughout, local coffee in the lobby, food trucks on the patio, monthly brewery partners, an outdoor wood-burning fireplace and sitting area with games for the guests. The hotel has 67 guest rooms. Source: Idaho Statesman

• The City of Boise and the Boise School District broke ground on a new swimming pool complex at Whitney Elementary School. The $9.5 million pool will offer a kiddie pool area, an eight-lane lap pool and a slide along with indoor restrooms and locker rooms. Cushing Terrell designed the pool and facilities while the Russell Corporation is providing the General Contracting services. Source: KTVB News

Canyon County

• Nampa School District patrons voted to approve a two-year $33.6 million levy with 52% support. The levy replaces an existing levy with less financial impact to homeowners. The new levy will cost $40.63 per 100,000 of taxable assessed value versus the previous levy at $63. 27 per $100,000. The levy covers over a dozen district needs from curriculum, to building security to playgrounds and supplemental salaries. Source: Idaho Press

• The Middleton School District is the recipient of a $11.1 million loan from the Public School Facilities Cooperative fund with the stipulation that a bond request to build a new elementary school fails again at the polls next May. The bond ask has been denied at the ballot box five times. Either way, a new elementary school should be in the works starting in 2026. Source: Idaho Education News
  

• The University of Idaho’s extension research farm in Parma and Potatoes USA, a marketing and research firm, hosted chefs from 12 countries including Mexico, Bahrain and Taiwan totaling about two dozen for this ‘reverse trade mission’. They were exposed to the ins and outs of potato production. The professionals toured a Caldwell farm, met with department heads at the research farm including biological control and pesticide reduction, walked the potato fields and toured a production plant. The next stop is Chicago where they cook with the potatoes. Source: Idaho Press

Elmore County

• The Elmore County Clerk notified Idaho’s Secretary of State that approximately 300 ballots, or 10% of votes, were not counted and included in the results from the recent Nov. 4 election. This could impact the outcome for the city council election and the Mountain Home School District levy. Phil McGrane, Secretary of State, is working with city officials to review the process and see where it broke down. If needed, the ballots will be hand counted. Source: Boise State Public Radio

Owyhee County

• Voters showed up at the polls to support continued operations at Bruneau Elementary School. The K-5 school has 23 students this year after losing six students over the summer. The patrons value the school as part of the community so the school board will follow their wishes and tweak the budget. The cost per pupil was $26,712 last year, therefore, with a new academic year those costs per pupil will rise. Source: The Owyhee Avalanche

Payette County

• Voters in Payette County rejected a $40 million bond request to build a replacement county jail. Its current jail holds 69 inmates and is frequently over capacity. The bond needed a super majority, or 66.67%, but received 55.7% of the vote. Source: KTVB News

Valley County

• St. Luke’s McCall invested in a robotic arm to assist with in-house knee surgeries. The technology advances recovery ensuring the process is less painful and invasive. The cost was $1.2 million with St. Luke’s McCall Foundation running a ‘Play Harder, Longer’ capital campaign to raise $1.5 million to cover the robotic arm and the renovation of its first floor. Source: The Star-News

• Ziply Fiber announced it has expanded the fiberoptic network in Valley County to include an additional 4,500 addresses with most addresses in McCall.  The company proactively provided redundancy with two lines in and out of McCall. It is working on fiber networks in rural communities in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana. Source: The Star-News

• The McCall City Council approved piloting a four-day work week for city staff as a perk. This will impact facilities normally open on Fridays including City Hall, public works, the McCall Municipal Airport office, the city shop, fleet services, the administrative offices of the McCall Police Department and Parks & Recreation. The test period will run from Dec. 1, 2025 through May 29, 2026. Those employees that are office-based, non-emergency and full-time will still work 40 hours, rather than five eight-hour days, they will put in four 10-hour shifts. Source: The Star-News

• McCall-Donnelly voters approved a Mountain Community Center District which will eventually provide a new indoor sports facility and cover its administration. A 5% lodging tax will be imposed with the district boundaries and directed toward building the facility. The next step is to formally adopt a board, work with the tax commission and gather feedback for the scope of project. Source: Idaho News 6

• Perpetua Resources has signed a development agreement with Valley County Commissioners. A groundbreaking was held as construction started on the gold mine that will also pull antimony from the reserves in this Yellow Pine area, formerly known as the Stibnite Mine. The sheriff commented that during construction, the site will grow to a community the size of Cascade and take three hours to respond due to its remoteness. The commissioners reserve the right to revisit the agreement should costs escalate beyond projections. The agreement includes the following:
  • Perpetua would pay Valley County $100,000 per year during construction of the mine for “general services” related to the project from the county’s building department, courts, assessor and other offices. 
  • $200,000 for a snow cat to groom snowmobile trails and $15,000 per year to support the grooming program for three years.
  • $10,000 per year towards the Payette Avalanche Center, for a total of up to $170,000. 
  • Removal and transportation of all solid waste from the project to sites outside of Valley County, estimated to cost about $9.6 million. 
  • Improvements to intersections on Idaho 55 that are estimated to cost the company about $3 million. 
  • $200,000 hazardous material response trailer for the Valley County Emergency Management team and $5,000 per year for equipment upkeep.
  • Cascade Fire & EMS would be supplied with $87,000 for an emergency extraction kit.
  • $150 million to install and upgrade power lines for the mine. 

Source: The Star-News

Regional openings

• Raising Cane’s opened its first Idaho location in Meridian. The fast-food chicken fingers restaurant opened to a line of customers that started queuing the night before, the Boise State University cheer squad, mascot Buster Bronco and a DJ. Source: Boise Weekly

• Mo’Bettahs Hawaiian Style Food opened in Boise. Source: KISS FM

• Raibu Sushi Bar, a high-end Japanese experience, opened in the former Public House and Bistro D’Helene spot in Boise’s north end. Source: Idaho Statesman

---

This Idaho Department of Labor project is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor for SFY26 as part of the Workforce Information grant (41%) and state/nonfederal funds (59%) totaling $860,595.

This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The product was created by the recipient and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.