BOISE — Idaho employers reported hiring 23,400 workers in July, exceeding prerecession hires for the first time since the downturn in 2007.

     The monthly report, based on employer filings of newly hired workers within 20 days of their hiring, showed that July’s total exceeded July 2007 by 500.

     According to Idaho Department of Labor officials, job estimates for the Idaho economy and details on which industries expanded and contracted will be issued later this month when the July unemployment rate is released.

    Idaho’s new hire reporting law was passed in 1997 to help the government locate parents who were delinquent in paying child support. More recently, the report has been used to provide insight regarding the health of the state economy.

     During the height of the economic expansion in 2006, new hires averaged over 30,000 a month in Idaho. During the worst of the downturn in 2010, they averaged under 14,000 a month.

     From October 2008 through May 2012, new hires averaged 14,500 a month, dropping below 10,000 in February 2010 and February 2011.

    The employer filing report features the number of people hired to fill new jobs, as well as existing jobs that were filled because workers retired, died, quit or were fired.