Sandoval says 60,700 private jobs created

CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval announced Thursday that 60,700 private jobs have been created in the first three years of his administration.

That beats the 50,000 job goal that Sandoval set during his State of the State address last year. However, Nevada still has more than 100,000 fewer jobs than it had at the peak before the recession.

“The economic storm that has plagued our country and was especially devastating to Nevada is beginning to break,” said Sandoval in a statement. “Over the past three years (2011-13) we have witnessed steady growth and the unemployment rate has decreased and stagnant sectors of our economy are now generating jobs.

Nevada’s unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in December, the most recent month surveyed, compared to 14 percent at one point in 2010.

But Nevada lost 186,000 jobs during the 2007-10 recession period, which means it still remains far below peak employment.

During a Nevada Employment Security Council hearing last October, state Chief Economist Bill Anderson estimated the state will gain 26,000 jobs in 2014 and 30,000 in 2015.

Even with that, Anderson said it would be several years before the state reaches its previous employment peak.

In that hearing, Anderson noted that the new jobs pay an average of $41,900 a year, just below what was the $42,200 average for private jobs that the state was losing. He also noted that even the hard-hit construction industry had added 4,500 jobs over the past year.

Nevada’s peak employment was 1,297,300 workers in May 2007 and bottomed out at 1,110,800 in September 2010.

For a copy of the report, visit: https://www.nevadaworkforce.com/admin/uploadedPublications/3369_Annual_benchmark_2014.pdf

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com, or call775-687-3901 or on Twitter @edisonvogel