Nevada’s jobless rate continues to improve in June

If you’ve seen a few more carpenters, consultants and cocktail waitresses lately, you’re not just imagining things.

Brisk job growth in construction, business services and leisure and hospitality helped push down Nevada’s unemployment rate in June, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said Friday.

The state’s jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 7.7 percent in the month, compared with 7.9 percent in May and 10 percent in June 2013.

The Las Vegas rate held steady from May to June at 7.9 percent, though comparisons to the state rate are difficult because local rates are not seasonally adjusted. Local unemployment was 10.4 percent in June 2013.

The state posted its 11th month-to-month jobs gain in June, adding 5,300 positions across all industries. The biggest year-to-year expansion came in the once-beleaguered construction industry, which posted a 10.5 percent improvement in its jobs base. That’s on top of a 6.1 percent annual gain in May.

Despite the hiring boom, construction employment remains well below its pre-recession high. Construction jobs statewide peaked at 148,000 in mid-2006. That number was at 62,700 in June. The industry bottomed out at 46,700 positions in mid-2012.

Business and professional services, including law firms, consultants, accountants and architecture studios, also grew briskly, adding 11,200 jobs statewide, for growth of 7.5 percent.

Leisure and hospitality, the state’s leading jobs sector, bolstered payrolls by 3.5 percent, or 11,300 positions.

Mining was the only one of Nevada’s 10 “super sectors” to lose jobs, as operators cut 300 spots.

Bill Anderson, the employment department’s chief economist, said Nevada’s jobs base is more than 40,000 positions bigger than it was a year ago. If that pace keeps up, the state will have added 100,000 jobs from 2010 to 2014.

“Going forward, improving underlying conditions in the national labor market should pave the way for continued advances in Nevada,” Anderson said. “By the end of next year, our expectations are for Nevada employment to be approximately 95 percent of the pre-recessionary peak. ”

Job formation in the state’s two biggest metro areas continued to easily outpace a national growth rate of about 1.5 percent.

In Las Vegas, where employers added 26,100 positions to payrolls, the expansion rate was 3.1 percent. In Reno-Sparks, the improvement was even more torrid, at 3.8 percent, or 7,500 jobs.

Nevada’s unemployment rate was still well above a national average of 6.1 percent.

The Silver State has ranked among the nation’s top states for joblessness since 2010. In June, it ranked No. 3, behind Rhode Island and Mississippi, which tied for first at 7.9 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

California, an important feeder market for local tourists and new residents, posted unemployment of 7.4 percent.

If you include discouraged workers who have stopped looking for a job, as well as underemployed part-timers who would rather have full-time work, Nevada’s jobless rate is considerably higher, averaging 17.4 percent from the second quarter of 2013 through the first quarter of 2014.

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