Nevada unemployment rate at 20-year low

Friday, Oct. 30, 1998 | 11:48 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in September, the lowest rate in 20 years.

Carol Jackson, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, predicted Thursday that business activity should continue strong.

The department said the 3.8 percent is second only to the lowest rate ever of 3.7 percent in June 1978. It is eight-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate and 2.2 percentage points below California.

There were an estimated 36,300 jobless individuals during the month, down from the 39,800 in August. Total employment hit 945,500 jobs, up by 12,000 in August.

Analysts for the department are predicting the annual job growth of 4.5 percent this year will shoot up to 6.6 percent next year because of the opening of the new Strip hotels in Las Vegas. But they also say that unemployment will creep up to the high 4 percent range.

Unemployment in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area fell from 4.3 percent in August to 3.9 percent in September with an estimated 28,000 people out of work. Employment rose to 673,800, up 9,100 jobs. The area includes Clark and Nye counties in Nevada and Mohave County in Arizona.

Washoe County's unemployment rate fell from 3.4 percent in August to 3.2 percent in September with 5,700 people jobless. The Carson City area, which includes Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties and Carson City, registered a 4.5 percent jobless rate, down from 5 percent in August. The rate in Elko-Eureka counties dropped from 4.6 percent to 4.1 percent in September.

Statewide in the year-to-year comparison on employment, mining was the only industry that reported a decline, down 4.1 percent, due mostly to the drop in gold prices. There were 14,000 people employed in mines.

Construction employment jumped by 10.4 percent to 93,400 workers; manufacturing was up 5.4 percent to 43,200 workers; hotel-gaming was up 1.5 percent to 222,900 employees; trade was up 4.2 percent to 188,900 workers and the number of workers in government grew 7.6 percent to 115,300.

The Las Vegas area registered a 9.9 percent gain in construction to 72,100 employees; manufacturing was up 5 percent to 23,200 workers; trade rose 5.3 percent to 136,300 employees; hotel-gaming increased 2 percent to 169,900 and government workers jumped 11.3 percent to 73,800.

The department said Storey County posted the lowest jobless rate in the state for the third quarter of the year at 3.1 percent. The highest for the three-month period was in Lander County at 9.7 percent.