Nevada jobless rate dips as job formation booms

A small drop in unemployment across Nevada masked big gains in jobs in July.

The state's unemployment rate of 6.8 percent was down only slightly from 6.9 percent in June, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Wednesday.

But job formation was 3.7 percent, well above a national average of about 1.5 percent. Nevada employers added more than 45,000 jobs year over year in July. That was the second-largest gain since mid-2006, at the height of the economic boom, and the 55th straight month of year-to-year job growth.

July also brought the 53rd straight month of annual drops in joblessness. Nevada's unemployment, though still above a national rate of 5.3 percent, is at its lowest level since July 2008.

In all, 97,000 Nevadans were unemployed and looking for work in July, compared with nearly 200,000 in 2010.

"All economic indicators continue to show the Silver State bouncing back from the brutal effects of the recession," said Bill Anderson, the employment department's chief economist. "Initial unemployment insurance claims are trending downward. In addition to the overall unemployment rate showing improvement, the long term unemployed are returning to work at a faster rate. Additionally, businesses continue to add jobs, while fewer establishments are closing."

Employers across the Silver State have added more than 45,000 jobs since July 2014, for a growth rate of 3.7 percent. As it has for much of the last year, construction led in percentage growth, adding 10.7 percent, or 6,800 jobs, to its employment base.

Leisure and hospitality, the state's primary economic driver, saw the largest gain in sheer numbers, with more than 20,000 new positions. That's a growth rate of 6 percent.

But 32,700 new workers flooded into the state's labor force in July, expanding the labor pool by 2.3 percent to 1.43 million and effectively canceling out much of the new jobs' effect on the unemployment rate.

Also, if you include discouraged workers who have quit looking for jobs and underemployed part-timers who would rather work full time, Nevada's jobless rate averaged 15.2 percent from mid-2014 through mid-2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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