According to the Idaho Department of Labor, half of Idaho’s 44 counties posted higher seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in February, up from 20 recording higher rates in January.

The jobless rates in the state’s largest county, Ada, held steady from January at 9.5 percent while the rate in the second largest county, Canyon, dropped fractionally to 11.8 percent.

Another 18 primarily rural counties saw unemployment rates decline in February compared to 22 counties with lower rates in January.

Boundary County was in that half posting higher rates, the preliminary February rate of 15.4-percent unemployment rate, with 732 county residents reported out of work, compares to 15.3-percent, or 719 county residents who were reported out of work in January.

Statewide, unemployment remained at a record 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

Idaho’s five urban areas combined maintained the 9.8 percent unemployment rate from January although Coeur d’Alene and Pocatello rose slightly while Lewiston fell and Boise and Idaho Falls remained unchanged. The two largest metro areas – Boise and Coeur d’Alene – both remained in double digits.

Unemployment in Idaho's 33 rural counties also remained unchanged from January at 9.6 percent.

The highest rate continued to be in resource-reliant Adams County at 15.9 percent, down a full percentage point from July. Another 17 counties remained in double digits in February, down from 19 in January.

The lowest rate was in Oneida and Owyhee counties at 5.9 percent in February. No county had a rate below 6 percent in January, the first month there has not been a county rate under 6 percent since February 1983.