Regional news

Regional labor market information

Figure 1.

North central, seasonally adjusted data	Jul-26 (P)	Jun-26 (R)	Jul-25 (B)
Civilian labor force	53,751	53,814	54,103
Total employment	51,881	51,730	52,008
Unemployment	1,870	2,084	2,095
Percentage of labor force unemployed	3.5%	3.9%	3.9%
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine	P – Preliminary	R – Revised	B – Benchmarked

• The region’s unemployment rate of 3.5% in July 2026 was 0.4% lower than both June 2026 and July 2025. The total number of unemployed people in north central’s five counties decreased by over 10% compared to July 2025 estimates. Initial unemployment insurance claims in the region averaged 13 filings per week in July 2026 compared to 36 filings in July 2025.

Figure 2.

North central Idaho job postings	Jul-26	Jul-25
Unique postings	2,829	2,765
Days posted	30	31
Number of employers	584	614
Average hourly wage	$27.51	$25.05
Percentage of postings with advertised wage	45%	42%
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Active job postings during July 2026 in the north central region held steady from the prior month. Compared to statewide job postings, north central postings averaged seven more days of median posting duration. With the decrease in unemployment estimates, job postings per unemployed person increased from 1.3 in July 2025 to 1.5 in July 2026.

Figure 3.

Top 10 occupations by unique job postings in north central Idaho	Postings, Jul-26	Postings, Jul-25
Registered Nurses	159	205
Retail Salespersons	86	92
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	83	35
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers	55	68
Customer Service Representatives	53	49
Physical Therapists	51	54
Nursing Assistants	46	31
Medical and Health Services Managers	42	36
Home Health and Personal Care Aides	38	89
Occupational Therapists	34	29
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Compared to July 2025, job postings in July 2026 increased for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers and Nursing Assistants while decreasing for Registered Nurses and First-Line Supervisors of Retail Workers. Despite the decreases in active postings compared to the prior year, Registered Nurses and First-Line Retail Supervisors continued to be in the top four regional occupations by active postings.

Figure 4.

Top 10 industries by unique job postings in north central Idaho	Postings, Jul-26	Postings, Jul-25
Healthcare and Social Assistance	445	470
Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services	339	487
Retail Trade	202	296
Finance and Insurance	201	122
Educational Services	180	192
Manufacturing	134	122
Accommodation and Food Services	118	187
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	79	75
Transportation and Warehousing	70	57
Wholesale Trade	68	63
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Compared to the same period last year, July 2026 postings increased within the industries of Finance and Insurance and Transportation and Warehousing. This growth was offset by decreases in postings within Retail Trade and Accommodation and Food Services. Wholesale Trade had the longest median posting duration in July 2026 at 41 days.

Figure 5.

Top 10 hardest-to-fill occupations in north central Idaho	Median duration, Jul-26	Unique postings, Jul-26
Education Administrators, Postsecondary	52	24
Driver/Sales Workers	47	19
Industrial Engineers	42	18
Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners	38	22
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers	37	55
Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services and Travel	36	21
Medical and Health Services Managers	34	42
Cooks, Restaurant	34	27
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses	34	21
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners	32	31
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• The region’s hardest to fill occupations are currently a mix of highly specialized fields including Industrial Engineers, Medical and Health Services Managers and Postsecondary Administrators. The high turnover occupations are Janitors, Maids and Restaurant Cooks. By major occupational group, architecture and engineering occupations held the longest median days of posting duration (at 42 days) followed by building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations (at 34 days).

Regional news

• The north central region reported 13 average weekly initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims and 109 average weekly continuing claims during July 2026. Initial claim volume decreased 28% from the previous month and 64% from the 36 average weekly initial claims filed in July 2025. Continuing weekly claim volume during July increased 9% from June 2026 and decreased 31% from the 159 average weekly claims in July 2025. Statewide, weekly initial claims decreased 9% from June 2026 and 33% from July 2025. Statewide continuing claims increased 2% from last month and decreased 8% from July 2025. Source: Idaho Department of Labor

• The Idaho Travel Council awarded $429,000 in tourism marketing funding grants to three north central Idaho nonprofit organizations. Visit Lewis Clark Valley got awarded $173,000, Moscow Chamber of Commerce got awarded $168,000 and North Central Idaho Travel Association got awarded $88,000. Grant funding was provided by statewide lodging tax collections that increased 6% to over $24 million during the most recent fiscal year. Source: Idaho Travel Council

Idaho County

• A mid-July hailstorm on the Camas Prairie is estimated to have affected 2,500 acres of crops and caused over $1 million of damage. Source: Idaho County Free Press

• Elk Range Mining began a six-month exploration drilling program at the Friday Gold Mine near Elk City in early August. Elk Range Mining has contracted with Black Cloud Drilling to validate gold mineralization and test potential production. Source: Elk Range Mining

Latah County

• Les Schwab Tire Center is constructing a second location in Moscow with a scheduled opening in early 2027. Source: The Lewiston Tribune

• The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport reported 16% more passengers in 2025 compared to 2024 as the number of plane landings increased 20% from 979 in 2024 to 1,176 in 2025. Source: Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport

• The University of Idaho is estimating student enrollment could decrease by about 5% for the Fall 2026 semester compared to Fall 2025. Source: The Lewiston Tribune

• The University of Idaho was granted permission from the Idaho State Board of Education for three building projects during fiscal year 2028 that with an estimated combined cost of nearly $140 million – an Applied Engineering and Science Facility (which costs $115 million), the Joint Military Science and Veterans Assistance Center (which costs $16 million) and a College of Engineering cybersecurity facility (which costs $8 million). Source: Pullman Radio

• Burlington will begin hiring employees in September for its planned October 2026 opening at Palouse Place in Moscow. Source: Burlington Stores

Lewis County

• Empire Lumber Company in Kamiah experienced an overnight machinery-caused fire this month. Source: Kamiah Fire Rescue EMS

Nez Perce County 

• Clearwater Paper Corporation is collaborating with Mexico-based Greenpaper to launch Circa paperboard products in the U.S. Circa will be manufactured by Greenpaper and distributed by Clearwater Paper. Source: Clearwater Paper

• Agpro Marketing & Manufacturing Inc. relocated from Lewiston to the Port of Wilma in Clarkston, WA. The manufacturing company produces farm equipment and provides 18 local jobs. Source: Pullman Radio

• Colorado-based Nepra Foods plans to acquire the operating assets and assume the existing lease of Tsceminicum Bottling Company (doing business as Artesian Fusion) at the Port of Lewiston in August 2026. Nepra Foods plans to manufacture bottled water, beverages and products at the site for third-party customers. Source: Nepra Foods

• Five Below entered the Idaho retail market by opening its first statewide location in Lewiston in mid-August. Source: Five Below

Regional openings

• Five Below retail store, Lewiston

• North Lewiston Storage, Lewiston

• Seven Devils Tree Worx, Lewiston

• Hometown Concrete, Lewiston

• Myers Wound Care Consultants, White Bird

• Medley Construction, Orofino

• Essentials Curated Gifts, Moscow

• NHM Family Foods, Kendrick

Regional closings

• Iconique Boutique, Lewiston

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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.

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