Regional news

Regional labor market information

Figure 1.

Southeastern Idaho, seasonally adjusted data	Apr-26 (P)	Mar-26 (R)	Apr-25 (B)
Civilian labor force	84,515	84,318	86,517
Total employment	81,194	81,268	83,428
Unemployment	3,321	3,050	3,089
Percentage of labor force unemployed	3.9%	3.6%	3.6%
Source: Idaho Department of Labor	P – Preliminary	R – Revised	B – Benchmarked

• Unemployment increased substantially in southeastern Idaho in April with around 270 more unemployed people resulting in an unemployment rate hike to 3.9%, above the state unemployment rate of 3.6%. Total labor force decreased in southeastern Idaho year over year by about 2,000 people. This is partly due to new input in the population data that models total labor force. Another driving factor is the national trend for a decrease in labor force participation since November 2025.

Figure 2.

Southeastern Idaho job postings	Apr-26	Apr-25
Unique postings	2,602	1,546
Days posted	22	31
Number of employers	617	318
Average hourly wage	$21.11	$22.46
Percentage of postings with advertised wage	38%	31%
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Total postings increased while the number of days those postings were listed decreased. April data should be the same as last month with pre-May 2025 data. This is when Lightcast changed how it counted postings.

Figure 3.

Top 10 occupations by unique job postings in southeastern Idaho	Postings, Apr-26	Postings, Apr-25
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	172	50
Retail Salespersons	113	56
Registered Nurses	98	59
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers	54	29
Customer Service Representatives	52	24
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners	49	18
Coaches and Scouts	45	31
Fast Food and Counter Workers	43	12
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other	42	12
Cashiers	40	17
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Truck Drivers surpassed Registered Nurses and Retail Salespersons for job postings in April with 172 postings. Janitors and Cleaners are also listed at the top.

Figure 4.

Top 10 industries by unique job postings in southeastern Idaho	Postings, Apr-26	Postings, Apr-25
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	304	173
Elementary and Secondary Schools	93	33
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance and Truckload	90	12
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (Except Convenience) Stores	89	52
Limited-Service Restaurants	73	30
Credit Unions	56	32
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property	53	32
Engineering Services	50	43
Colleges, Universities and Professional Schools	43	60
Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers	29	73
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• General Medical and Surgical Hospitals, Elementary and Secondary Schools and General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance and Truckload all topped the list with associated occupations ranking high in postings.  

Figure 5.

Top 10 hardest-to-fill occupations in southeastern Idaho	Median duration, Apr-26	Unique postings, Apr-26
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists	57	3
Tutors	56	2
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	56	1
Cooks, Fast Food	54	2
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	52	7
Medical Dosimetrists	51	1
Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers	49	8
Surgeons, All Other	49	3
Cashiers	48	40
Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators	48	6
Source: The Conference Board-Lightcast Help Wanted OnLine

• Cashiers appeared to be both a highly in demand job and one that has proven difficult to fill with a median of 48 days before the job postings can be taken down. Mining Engineers are also difficult to fill with an estimated eight positions in the region available.

Regional news

Bannock County

• Bannock County and the Pocatello Fire Department are decommissioning the Inkom volunteer ambulance in July 2026. The plan is to hire four new full-time paramedics and consolidate six coordinator positions into a single role. These new roles would be staffed out of the new McCammon Fire Station. Currently, when the volunteer ambulance is unavailable, ambulances are dispatched from Pocatello, which frequently takes 30 or more minutes. The new changes would improve this response time. Sources: Idaho State Journal and East Idaho News

• Thousands of southeastern Idaho residents are at risk of losing Portneuf Medical Center as an in-network provider. Negotiations were underway in May as disagreements arose between Ardent Health, the operator of Portneuf Medical Center and Regence BlueShield of Idaho. If no agreement is reached, Regence’s Pocatello customers might have to go to other hospitals like Bingham Memorial Hospital for in-network care. Sources: Idaho State Journal and Regence

• The Hawkins pipeline in South Bannock County was completed. This 10-mile pipeline from the Hawkins Reservoir serves 12 shareholders and provides water to 3,220 acres. The pipeline replaces irrigation ditches that required labor to clean, scope and inspect the ditches for weeds and gophers requiring an estimated three workers over eight days every year. Source: Idaho State Journal

• A new proposal, from Portneuf Capital and Lex Developments, to turn the defunct Hoku polysilicon plant into an Artificial Intelligence data center was submitted. A hearing about the proposal was held May 14 in the Pocatello City Hall rejecting this proposal on grounds of lack of details about the project. Data centers aren’t listed in Pocatello’s zoning ordinance, so the hearing was necessary before issuing the permit. The plant would require 100 megawatts of electricity which is roughly what the city consumes in a year. Lex Developments is in negotiation with Idaho Power and Intermountain Gas Company to develop the infrastructure for the plant while natural gas turbines are expected to supply power while that infrastructure is built. City staff are still in talks about the wastewater implications of such a plant as the developer proposed a closed loop liquid cooling system for the site which would require less water than older data centers. Lex Development estimates 150 to 300 permanent jobs added to the economy for maintenance, security, landscaping and utilities while the estimated jobs from construction would number from 140 to 400. Total investment in construction is estimated at $2.26 billion. Source: Idaho State Journal

• Titan Batteries opened its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Pocatello. The lithium-ion battery packs manufactured at the site are catered to the national defense Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Source: Idaho State Journal

• Inkom opened its first public library. The South Bannock Library features books, audiobooks, DVDs, magazines and newspapers in its 3,190 square foot building. Funding came from a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund. Source: East Idaho News

Bingham County

• The City of Blackfoot opened its first Starbucks, May 5. Located on Parkway Drive, the new location has 30 local employees. The café offers benefits including 401(k), health insurance and tuition assistance to its employees who range from teens to older adults. Source: Idaho State Journal

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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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