Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau
Friday, June 17, 2022
Nevada’s unemployment rate went down one-tenth of a percent in May.
The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reports the statewide unemployment rate is now 4.9 percent and employment is up 96,300 since May 2021.
Reno area unemployment is 2.7 percent and the area has added some 800 jobs since April, the lowest of the metropolitan reporting areas. Reno has added 10,300 workers to the employed ranks over the past year.
Reno reported 6,893 looking for work in a labor force of 252,179.
Carson City isn’t far behind Reno at 3 percent jobless. The capital reported a net decrease of 200 jobs but is up 1,100 over the year.
Carson reported 775 jobless in a labor force of 25,410 as of the end of May.
Las Vegas added some 4,800 jobs over the month but is still at 5 percent unemployment. Las Vegas has added 86,100 workers to the employed list since May 2021.
Las Vegas reported 55,973 jobless in a labor force of 1.1 million.
Lyon County also continued to improve with just 3.7 percent of the labor force looking for work. There are 23,608 in Lyon’s workforce and just 877 seeking employment.
Douglas County was at 3.1 percent, 673 in a labor pool of 21,441.
Total employment in the state is now 1.45 million.
DETR Chief Economist Dave Schmidt said the report reflects Nevada’s ongoing transition from recovery to economic expansion.
“Most industries in the state and metropolitan areas now have more jobs than before the pandemic,” he said.
Schmidt said in the Reno market, manufacturing has, for the first time, reached 30,000. That is 14 percent higher than pre-pandemic employment in that sector.
In addition, he said the share of the population either working or looking for work increased slightly to 60 percent.
