Number of unemployed Nevadans tumbles to seven-year low

The number of unemployed Nevadans slipped to a seven-year low in September as the state's unemployment rate fell.

The jobless rate of 6.7 percent was down 0.1 percent compared with August and 0.6 percent from September 2014, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Wednesday. That was the lowest rate since July 2008.

The ranks of the state's unemployed fell below 96,000 for the first time since August 2008, the department said.

Employers added 34,600 jobs year over year in September, for a growth rate of 2.8 percent. The month brought the 57th straight month of annual job gains.

As in recent months, construction and the leisure and hospitality sector expanded the most.

Construction posted the biggest percentage growth rate, with an 8.8 percent increase that translated into 5,700 more jobs. The industry now has 72,000 jobs statewide, up from a low of about 46,000 in the recession, but just half of its peak of 148,000 in 2006.

The state's largest employment sector, leisure and hospitality, grew by 18,000 jobs, for growth of 5.3 percent.

The labor force grew as well, as job seekers entered the market. The state's work force of 1.43 million was 33,900, or 2.4 percent, higher than a year earlier.

Still, there are indicators that the state's jobs market has a way to go before it's considered recovered.

September's national unemployment rate was notably lower, at 5.1 percent in September.

Also, if you include discouraged workers who have quit job hunting and underemployed part-timers who would rather have full-time work, Nevada's jobless rate would have averaged 15.2 percent from the third quarter of 2014 through the second quarter of 2015.

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