Last Updated :
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July 3, 2019
Idaho Employment Statistics- 63,526 employers
- 730,815 employees
- $825 average weekly wage
- The average weekly wage is 25.1% below the national average
- The cost of living is 5.8% below the national average
Types of Employers (Private Sector vs Government Agency)
As an employer in Idaho, you are most likely to be running a private company rather than a government agency. 95.7% of employers run private companies in the state, 1.4% less than the national average of 97.0. The remaining 4.3% of employers are government agencies: 0.9% work in a federal agency, 0.8% work for the state and 2.6% work for local government. The chart below illustrates the breakout of employers by type.
83.7% of employees work for a private company. This is 1.6% below the national average of 85.2%. Local government agencies employ 11.0% of the workers in the state, state government agencies employ 3.5% of the workers and the federal government employs 1.8%. The percentage of employees working for a government agency (16.3%) is 1.6% higher than the national average. The chart below illustrates the breakout of employees by type of employer.
The average weekly wage in Idaho is $825 per week, which is 25.1% greater than the national average of $1,101 per week. Idaho workers that are employed by private businesses earn $825 per week, 25.0% lower than the national average for private company employees. Employees of federal government agencies in Idaho earn $1,355 per week, a premium of 64.2% compared to what employees of private companies earn. The chart below illustrates the average weekly by type of employer.
Leading Sectors
Businesses by Sector
The sector with the greatest number of businesses in the state is Construction with 12.8% of the businesses in the state. Professional services (11.9%) and Healthcare (11.0%) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Sectors by # of Businesses
| Sector | # Businesses | % of Bus. |
|---|
| Construction | 8,154 | 12.8% |
| Professional services | 7,582 | 11.9% |
| Healthcare | 7,011 | 11.0% |
| Retail trade | 6,125 | 9.6% |
| Other services | 3,975 | 6.3% |
| Accommodation and food services | 3,973 | 6.3% |
| Waste services | 3,569 | 5.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 3,567 | 5.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 3,346 | 5.3% |
| Manufacturing | 2,804 | 4.4% |
| Real estate and rental | 2,465 | 3.9% |
| Agriculture and forestry | 2,316 | 3.6% |
| Transport and warehousing | 2,015 | 3.2% |
| Information | 1,219 | 1.9% |
| Arts and entertainment | 1,031 | 1.6% |
| Educational services | 807 | 1.3% |
| Company management | 387 | 0.6% |
| Utilities | 247 | 0.4% |
| Mining and oil extraction | 179 | 0.3% |
Employees by Sector
The sector with the greatest number of employees in the state is
Healthcare with 12.7% of the employees in the state.
Retail trade (11.8%) and
Manufacturing (9.3%) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Sectors by # of Employees
| Sector | # Employees | % of Emp' |
|---|
| Healthcare | 92,974 | 12.7% |
| Retail trade | 86,408 | 11.8% |
| Manufacturing | 67,786 | 9.3% |
| Accommodation and food services | 66,793 | 9.1% |
| Waste services | 47,008 | 6.4% |
| Construction | 46,872 | 6.4% |
| Professional services | 37,837 | 5.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 29,383 | 4.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 24,430 | 3.3% |
| Agriculture and forestry | 24,421 | 3.3% |
| Transport and warehousing | 20,711 | 2.8% |
| Other services | 18,619 | 2.5% |
| Arts and entertainment | 12,129 | 1.7% |
| Information | 8,806 | 1.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 8,071 | 1.1% |
| Educational services | 7,206 | 1.0% |
| Company management | 6,815 | 0.9% |
| Utilities | 3,010 | 0.4% |
| Mining and oil extraction | 2,215 | 0.3% |
Average Weekly Wage by Sector
The sector that pays their employees the highest is
Company management paying $1,740per week compared with the state average of $825.
Utilities ($1,665) and
Mining and oil extraction ($1,350) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Wages by Sector
| Sector | Wkly Wage | vs St Avg. |
|---|
| Company management | $1,740 | 210.9% |
| Utilities | $1,665 | 201.8% |
| Mining and oil extraction | $1,350 | 163.6% |
| Professional services | $1,244 | 150.8% |
| Manufacturing | $1,229 | 149.0% |
| Finance and insurance | $1,196 | 145.0% |
| Wholesale trade | $1,165 | 141.2% |
| Information | $1,014 | 122.9% |
| Construction | $851 | 103.2% |
| Transport and warehousing | $817 | 99.0% |
| Healthcare | $813 | 98.5% |
| Educational services | $758 | 91.9% |
| Real estate and rental | $717 | 86.9% |
| Agriculture and forestry | $717 | 86.9% |
| Waste services | $685 | 83.0% |
| Other services | $602 | 73.0% |
| Retail trade | $590 | 71.5% |
| Arts and entertainment | $377 | 45.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | $321 | 38.9% |
Leading Industries
Businesses by Industry
Each broad sector is made up of specific industries. In Idaho. the industry with the most businesses is
Restaurants and other eating places with 4.5% of the businesses in the state (with 2,859 employing 52,376 workers).
Home health care services (3.0%) and
Residential building construction (2.9%) round out the top 3 industries. The Top 10 Industries in the state are:
| Industry | # Businesses | Emp/Biz |
|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 2,859 | 18.3 |
| Home health care services | 1,879 | 4.8 |
| Residential building construction | 1,874 | 3.3 |
| Computer systems design and related services | 1,614 | 3.5 |
| Management consulting services | 1,117 | 3.4 |
| Offices of physicians | 1,091 | 10.6 |
| Accounting and bookkeeping services | 1,020 | 4.0 |
| Offices of real estate agents and brokers | 913 | 1.8 |
| Insurance agencies and brokerages | 909 | 3.5 |
| Landscaping services | 844 | 5.8 |
Employees by Industry
The industry with the greatest number of employees in the state is
Restaurants and other eating places with 7.2% of the businesses in the state. The industry employs 52,376 in 2,859 businesses, there are 18.3 employees on average in each of these businesses.
General medical and surgical hospitals (3.1%) and
General merchandise stores including warehouse clubs and supercenters (1.7%) round out the top 3 industries.
Table: Industries by # of Employees
| Industry | # Emp | Emp/Biz |
|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 52,376 | 18.3 |
| General medical and surgical hospitals | 22,478 | 161.7 |
| General merchandise stores including warehouse clubs and supercenters | 12,577 | 42.8 |
| Supermarkets and other grocery stores | 12,277 | 48.3 |
| Offices of physicians | 11,618 | 10.6 |
| Temporary help services | 9,920 | 21.0 |
| Semiconductor and electronic component mfg. | 9,395 | 164.8 |
| Telephone call centers | 9,120 | 84.4 |
| Home health care services | 9,097 | 4.8 |
| Hotels and motels except casino hotels | 9,042 | 23.5 |
Average Weekly Wage by Industry
The industry that pays their employees the most is
Investment banking and securities dealing, paying $3,058 compared with the state average of $825.
Sea coastal and great lakes transportation ($2,936) and
Semiconductor and electronic component mfg. ($2,769) round out the top 3 industries.
Table: Wages by Industry
| Industry | Wkly Wage | % of Avg |
|---|
| Investment banking and securities dealing | $3,058 | 370.7 |
| Sea coastal and great lakes transportation | $2,936 | 355.9 |
| Semiconductor and electronic component mfg. | $2,769 | 335.6 |
| Agents and managers for public figures | $2,692 | 326.3 |
| Computer and software merchant wholesalers | $2,554 | 309.6 |
| Securities brokerage | $2,531 | 306.8 |
| Pesticide and other ag. chemical mfg. | $2,384 | 289.0 |
| Other financial vehicles | $2,276 | 275.9 |
| Druggists' goods merchant wholesalers | $2,244 | 272.0 |
| Credit bureaus | $2,205 | 267.3 |
Company Size
Idaho Businesses by Size
The
solopreneur company, has the most businesses in Idaho by far. 63.4% of all businesses in the state have fewer than 5 employees. The 56,538 small businesses in the state represent 96.7% of all private businesses. The national average is 92.6%. (Small businesses have fewer than 50 employees, Solopreneurs employ fewer than 5.) The pie chart below illustrates the ratio of business sizes.
Idaho Employees by Business Size
The largest companies in the state represent 62.2% of all employees, which is 76.2% lower than the national average of 138.4%. Smallest companies also employ a lower percentage of the states workforce than the largest companies. The
solopreneur (those that employ fewer than 5) companies employ 91.5% of all workers, which is 0.0% lower than the national average of 91.5%. All small companies, those employing fewer than 50 people, represent 540.6% of the labor force in the state, 9.4% less than the national average of 550.0%.
Idaho Avg Weekly Wages by Business Size
Idaho workers in every size business are paid less than the national average. The smallest companies in Idaho (those with fewer than 5 employees) pay workers 12.2% less than the national average ($869 per week as compared to the national average of $975 per week). The largest companies in Idaho (those with more than 1,000 employees) pay 27.4% workers below the national average ($1,477 per week as compared to the national average of $1,882 per week).
Data Sources
About the Writer
This page was created and is maintained by Kurt Tietjen, Founder of Stavera, High Peak Media & HomeGearWorks.com. Kurt is an executive, data scientist and software engineer who holds an MBA in Management Information Systems. In 2010, he partnered with scientists at Northwestern University to launch The Street Wire. This was one of the first mainstream uses of what would become “Narrative Science”, an artificial intelligence platform specializing in natural language generation. You can contact Kurt on LinkedIn here.