Nevada employers add 40,200 jobs year over year, report shows
Nevada's jobless rate went unchanged from July to August, sticking at 6.8 percent.
But unemployment was down from 7.5 percent in August 2014, for the 54th straight month of year-to-year jobless declines, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Friday.
Nevada's employers added 40,200 jobs year over year, for a job-formation rate of 3.3 percent. That easily beat the U.S. growth rate of 2.1 percent. It was also the 56th consecutive month of job gains.
The fastest-growing sectors included construction, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services.
Still, state unemployment remains well above the national average of 5.1 percent.
The state's workforce expanded by 2.4 percent, or 33,500 people, to nearly 1.43 million. The flood of new workers into the labor pool statistically cancels out much of the state's job growth, and mutes the downward effect of job gains on the unemployment rate.
The employment department will release local unemployment figures next week.
Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Find @_JRobison on Twitter.
