Idaho Unemployment Payments Down

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's weekly unemployment payments have fallen below 10,000 for the first time since late November 2007. The Idaho Department of Labor says it made 9,645 unemployment payments last week, down over 400 from the previous week and down 4,000 from the same week a year ago. Idaho made more than 41,000 weekly unemployment payments in March 2009. The agency says Idaho still has about 8,000 workers on federal financed extended benefits, which stop at the end of this year. The Post Register reports Idaho recently made the first $50 million payment on bonds sold to repay the $202 million it borrowed from the federal government in order to keep the state's unemployment trust fund solvent. Labor Department spokesman Bob Fick estimated the trust fund's balance is about $290 million.