Nevada jobless rate falls

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, March 5, 2004 | 11:37 a.m.

Nevada's unemployment rate fell in January as the state continues to outpace the nation in job growth.

Unemployment for the month fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.5 percent, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said. By January, Nevada had created 45,700 new jobs over the previous 12 months, a growth rate of 4.3 percent, the department said.

With the job growth, Nevada's unemployment sits 1.1 percentage points below the national rate and 1.6 percentage points below California's unemployment rate.

The results continue a strong run for the state over since the national economy slipped into a recession in March 2001.

"In comparison to other states, Nevada is one of the only states that did not see a job loss over the last two years," said Keith Schwer, director of the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Development.

The Las Vegas metropolitan statistical area, which includes Clark and Nye counties and Mohave County in Arizona, reported an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month but down seven-tenths of a percentage point over the previous year.

Schwer said the local unemployment increase could be attributed to the closing of two Las Vegas casinos -- Binion's Horseshoe and the Castaways.

"There has been some adjustment locally, but we are still doing pretty good," he said.

Construction employment in Las Vegas was up 10 percent over the previous year with the addition of about 7,800 jobs.

The retail and financial sectors in Las Vegas also saw employment increases of more than 6 percent year over year, while telecommunications saw a decline in employment of 10 percent.

The Las Vegas labor force reached 927,100 in January, up from 891,900 for the same month in 2003, representing an increase of 3.9 percent.

The unemployment rate in the Reno metropolitan area, which includes all of Washoe County, was 5 percent in January, up one percentage point from December but down five-tenths of a percentage point from the previous year.