Idaho Wages Still Lag, But Wage Growth Leads the Nation

Boise (670 KBOI News) – Not only is Idaho the fastest growing state, and Boise fastest growing city in the nation, but our wages are rising faster than in any other state.

Jan Roser is an economist with the Idaho Department of Labor…she says from 2016 to 2017, wages rose 5.3% percent in Idaho, beating the national average of 3.1% percent.

She says there are good jobs all across the state, too.

“It appears durable manufacturing was the main source behind that,” said Roser.  “We do have pockets of durable manufacturing all over our state, and certain we have a high concentration, maybe not as high as was before the recession, of computer and electronic product manufacturing.”

The downside is that we’re number 44 in the nation for average yearly earnings.

In the Treasure Valley, she says the best growth jobs are everything from engineering and software writing, to construction and healthcare.