Job growth helps push down Nevada’s unemployment rate in March

Spiking job growth helped push Nevada’s unemployment down in March.

The state’s jobless rate came in at 5.8 percent, down from 5.9 percent in February and 6.9 percent in March 2015, the state Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Department reported Wednesday.

Much of the improvement came from job growth. Employers expanded payrolls by 2.8 percent year over year, for the nation’s third-best job-formation rate.

The U.S. average is 2 percent.

Nevada’s employers added 35,500 jobs year to year, for the 63rd straight month of gains. March was also the 44th consecutive month in which the state’s annual job growth outpaced the nation’s, said Bill Anderson, the employment department’s chief economist.

“All measures of the Silver State’s economic health continue to show positive signs of recovery,” Anderson said.

Leading the way in growth rate was construction, which added 11.9 percent, or 7,900 jobs, for a base of 75,800.

The combined education and health services category grew by 5.3 percent, or 6,400 jobs, to 126,200. Retail expanded 3.3 percent, to 147,600 jobs. Professional and business services improved by 3.8 percent, or 6,200 jobs.

The state’s biggest economic driver, leisure and hospitality, was mostly flat, increasing by 0.7 percent, or 2,500 jobs, to 343,600 positions.

Nevada’s total jobs base stood at 1.35 million in the month.

The labor force ticked up 1 percent, adding 14,700 people for a total of 1.43 million.

Anderson pointed to other signs of economic recovery. March’s 12-month average for initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to a prerecession low of 12,343, while personal income was up 6.6 percent. Also, the number of small-business jobs in Nevada reached a record in the third quarter of 592,000, up from a prerecession peak of 585,000.

Still, Nevada has its unemployment challenges.

Its jobless rate outpaces the national rate of 5 percent.

If you include discouraged workers who have stopped looking for a job and underemployed part-timers who would rather have full-time work, unemployment averaged 13.9 percent in 2015, compared with 10.4 percent nationwide.

Nevada ranked No. 5 for joblessness in February, the latest month with national rankings.

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