State jobless rate 4 percent in December, record 1 million working

Brendan Riley

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 12:12 p.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada's unemployment rate dropped to 4 percent between November and December as the state's employment total hit 1 million for the first time.

A report released Friday shows the seasonally adjusted rate compared with a national rate of 4.1 percent and a 4.9 percent rate in neighboring California.

There were about 33,500 Nevadans out of work in December, down from 38,000 in November. The 1 million people working in Nevada during December marked an increase from 999,300 a month earlier.

The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation report shows healthy job growth in many areas, although service-related business hiring was down 1,600. That was attributed partly to layoffs of temporary employees at the huge COMDEX computer show held a month earlier in Las Vegas.

Also within the service industry category, hotel-casino hiring was down 600 due to seasonal slowdowns. Construction was down 700 and mining was down 100 workers.

On a month-to-month basis, trade was up 3,000 due largely to Christmas-season hiring by retailers; government was up 500; and manufacturing was up 100.

Transportation-utilities and finance-insurance-real estate hiring held steady.

While job growth is good in urban areas, DETR chief Carol Jackson said many rural counties are still suffering because of reduced mining activity.

The metropolitan Las Vegas unemployment rate in December was 3.6 percent, down from 4.1 percent in November.

In the Reno area, the seasonally adjusted December jobless rate was 2.5 percent, down from a November rate of 2.8 percent.

The state report also showed December unemployment rates of 4.2 percent in Carson City-Douglas-Lyon-Storey areas; and 3.6 percent in the Elko-Eureka counties area.

Monthly rates for other areas of the state aren't available from DETR. But quarterly rates, for the October-December period, showed Churchill County at 6.5 percent; Humboldt County at 4.4 percent; and White Pine County at 4.1 percent.