Nevada average pay increases but can’t match inflation

Wages in Nevada are increasing, though the gains aren’t matching inflation.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Friday that the average weekly statewide wage in the third quarter was $840, up 0.5 percent from $836 in the same quarter of 2013. The reading was just 0.6 percent below the third-quarter record of $845, set in 2011.

But inflation is outpacing earnings growth, the employment department said.

Through the first three quarters of 2014, average weekly wages rose 1.2 percent from the same period in 2013, said Bill Anderson, the department’s chief economist. But consumer prices rose 1.6 percent in 2014, suggesting that wages have not grown in “real terms,” Anderson said.

The average wage received a boost from the high-paying construction sector, where wages averaged $988 in 2013, the year with the most recent available industry-specific statistics.

Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.