Nevada Jobs

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People looking for jobs in Nevada(For more information, click here) during February faced fewer employers hiring and greater competition. According to a recent press release from the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation (DETR), unemployment in the state rose 0.7 percent from January’s 9.3 percent to 10.1 percent. During the same time the national jobless rate was 8.1 percent.

This can be viewed as a particularly significant sign as to how the area is dealing with recession, especially when you consider that the unemployment rate was only 5.5 percent during the same month in 2008.

According to Bill Anderson, who is the chief economist for the DETR, one of the main reasons joblessness has reached this high for the state is the fact that somewhere around 102,500 residents in the Las Vegas- Paradise area are without jobs. This has served to boost the already high unemployment rate up much higher.

Since Las Vegas relies heavily on tourism economically, it has taken quite a hit from the recession. With fewer people throughout the county in a situation to afford vacations and gambling, the area has lost out on a lot of business. As a result, the Las Vegas job market has suffered.

Despite the dismal jobless rate, Anderson says there was some good news in February. Nonfarm employment actually increased statewide.

“Since the start of the recession, in December 2007, the unemployment rate has increased every month, nearly doubling over the period. Since September, the economy has shed over 50,000 jobs, suggesting the economy decelerated markedly during the final months of 2008 into 2009,” Anderson said in a recent press release. “Nonfarm employment increased for the first time since September, as higher education employees came back from winter break, though the end of the seasonal shut down at the State’s colleges and universities merely offset job losses in other sectors in February.”

This Nevada job increase of around 5,300 positions helped to bring down the level of devastation that could have been by the 4,600 jobs that other industries lost. Retail sales saw the largest decline, most likely because of the fact that economic troubles have caused many to purchase fewer unnecessary items. Employers in this sector cut a total of 2,400 jobs. Professional and business services followed, losing 1,200 jobs. Leisure and hospitality also lost a significant number of jobs, with approximately 1,000 workers losing their positions.

Because of the increase, an over all decline in jobs was experienced only in the Vegas area, where employers cut 1,400 jobs between the end of January and February.

Anderson believes that the reason employment was able to rise in the area was linked to the availability of services to start with.

“The healthcare and social assistance sector continues to defy recessionary pressures,” said Anderson . “Employment has increased by 3,100 since January 2008, reaching an all time high of 89,100 in February. Despite recent losses in wealth and income, Nevadans continue to demand increased services, likely due to a historical gap in service availability caused by rapid population growth.”