Job growth helps drive unemployment to six-year low

Nevada’s jobs market continued to improve in August, with unemployment dropping to a six-year low as builders and professional firms added workers.

Unemployment statewide dropped to 7.6 percent in the month, down from 7.7 percent in July and 9.8 percent in August 2013, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said Friday.

Employers added 300 more jobs than usual in August, pushing the year-over-year rise in job formation to 3.5 percent. The national rate has been averaging about 1.5 percent.

August was the 38th straight month in which Nevada’s jobless rate fell or held steady, and the 44th month with annual job gains, said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the employment department.

The state’s jobless rate has fallen by half since July 2011, when its employment market began turning around, Anderson said.

The Las Vegas rate fell to 7.7 percent in August, down from 8.2 percent in July and 10 percent in August 2013. But the employment department does not seasonally adjust local rates, so they can be more volatile than statewide levels.

Las Vegas was the only metro area in Nevada that added jobs from July to August.

Eight of Nevada’s 10 “super” employment sectors were up in August. Construction had the highest growth rate, at 12.8 percent, or 7,200 jobs, for a total of 64,800 positions. That’s up from 46,700 at the recession’s low, but still well below a boom-era peak of 148,000. The state’s construction sector is growing at 11 percent on a year-over-year basis — 7.7 percentage points higher than the rate at which the nation’s building sector is expanding.

Professional and business services, including accounting firms, law firms, staffing agencies and architecture studios, added 6.8 percent, or 10,200 jobs, to its workforce.

Leisure and hospitality added 1.5 percent, or 4,900 jobs.

The two major industries that shed jobs were mining, down 100 positions year over year, and government, down 200 jobs during the same period.

Broader job growth is being driven partly by gains in new businesses. The number of employers statewide hit a high of more than 60,600 in the second quarter of 2008 before falling to a recessionary low of 56,000 in the first quarter of 2011, Anderson said. Through the second quarter of 2014, the number of employers had clawed back to just under 60,000. At current rates, it’s possible Nevada will reach its pre-bust business peak by the end of 2014, Anderson said.

Wages also have made strides.

The state’s average weekly wage of $867 from January through March was up 2.7 percent from a year earlier, and a record reading for any first quarter. What’s more, the Consumer Price Index showed an inflation rate of 1.4 percent, which means Nevada wages grew in real terms, Anderson said.

Wage growth statewide averaged about 1 percent annually from 2011 to 2013.

The state is still far from recovered, though. Nevada’s jobless rate continues to trend well above the national average, which was 6.1 percent in August.

The Silver State ranked No. 4 for joblessness in the month, behind Georgia, Mississippi and Rhode Island.

California, a key feeder market for tourists and new residents, was at 7.4 percent.

Counting discouraged workers no longer seeking jobs and underemployed part-timers who would rather have full-time work, Nevada’s jobless rate averaged 16.2 percent from the third quarter of 2013 through the second quarter of 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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