Las Vegas jobless rate among highest in US, again
Las Vegas’ jobless rate was again among the top in the country for big metro areas in August, new data shows.
Southern Nevada’s unemployment rate, 5.6 percent, was fourth highest in the nation among the 50-plus metro areas with at least 1 million people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Among that group, the lowest unemployment rate in August, at 2.5 percent, was in both Birmingham, Alabama, and Honolulu. The highest, at 7.9 percent, was in Fresno, California.
In July, Las Vegas’ unemployment rate of 6 percent was tied for third highest among large metro areas.
At least locally, the jobless rate did not slide because of a sudden turnaround in the economy. America’s casino capital has been grappling this year with a drop in tourism — the region’s main economic engine — and shed thousands of jobs in August.
Job market ‘largely stationary’
David Schmidt, chief economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, recently explained that the lower jobless rate boils down to how labor-market data is collected and reported.
Metro-level jobless rates are not seasonally adjusted, he said, meaning the figures are not stripped of normal seasonal fluctuations in headcount. He also said that Las Vegas’ labor force dropped by more than 2,000 from July to August and that this tends to push down the unemployment rate, due to how it’s calculated.
People who leave the labor market and stop looking for work are no longer counted among the unemployed.
Meanwhile, employment figures from DETR that showed a month-to-month drop of 4,300 in Las Vegas were seasonally adjusted.
In that report, Schmidt said Nevada’s labor market is “largely stationary.”
Tourism, consumer spending fall
Southern Nevada has long relied heavily on visitors traveling here to spend big eating, drinking, partying, gambling and going to shows and conventions to fuel the economy. Tourism, however, is sliding this year.
Around 25.8 million people visited Las Vegas this year through August, down 7.8 percent, or a drop of more than 2 million people, from the same eight-month stretch last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Amid the drop-off, sales at clothing and jewelry stores and food and beverage outlets — categories that cover locals and tourists alike — tumbled over the past year in Southern Nevada.
Food services and drinking places logged nearly $12.7 billion in taxable sales in Clark County in the 12 months through June, down almost 2 percent from the prior year-long stretch, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation.
The percentage dip appears small but amounts to a drop of $256.5 million in sales.
Clothing, shoe and jewelry stores reported almost $4.4 billion in sales this past fiscal year, down 3 percent, or a drop of $139.2 million, from the year before.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.