Monday, March 7, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Despite the snow and rain that hit Nevada in January, the statewide unemployment rate inched down to 3.9 percent with an estimated 46,700 people out of work.
The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported today that last year the state's economy created 72,800 new jobs, with 57,100 coming in Las Vegas.
Gov. Kenny Guinn said, "Our job growth was stronger in 2004 than expected. Employment grew by more than 6 percent in the last three quarters of the year."
Birgit Baker, director of the department, said, "Despite a series of heavy winter storms that disrupted construction activity during January, Nevada's unemployment rate remained impressively low."
The seasonally adjusted state rate of 3.9 percent compares with 4 percent in December and 4.7 percent in January 2004. The national rate was 5.2 percent and the California rate was 5.8 percent.
The department said the January report carries a number of changes in calculations because of a revision ordered by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. For instance, the state rate is seasonally adjusted, but the local rates are not. This explains why all of the local unemployment rates went up while the state's rate went down.
In another change directed by the federal government, Clark County's unemployment will be reported on its own, rather than being lumped with Nye County and Mohave County in Arizona as in the past.
Under the new guidelines Carson City, which was joined with several rural counties, will have its own reporting area. And Washoe County will now be joined with Storey County in reporting the monthly unemployment figures.
Because the new guidelines change previously reported figures, the state today also released revised numbers for December as well as January 2004.
The department said the unemployment rate in Clark County in January was 4.2 percent, up from the 3.9 percent in December but below the 5.3 percent in January 2004. There were an estimated 34,500 unemployed, up 2,600 from January.
Total employment statewide in January was 1,174,3000, compared with 1,101,500 in January 2004 and 1,192,000 in December last year.
The agency said statewide employment in casinos and hotels dropped by 400 workers to 206,400 in January compared with December; construction fell from 125,100 from 122,700; manufacturing was down from 46,800 in December to 46,400 in January; and trade and transportation reported 206,100 in January, down from 216,000 in December.
It said employment statewide in professional and business services rose from 137,300 in December to 139,100 in January, but government employment dropped from 144,400 in December to 138,700 in January.
Clark County reported 835,000 people on the job, up 7.3 percent from January 2004 but down from the December's 841,500. Construction employment in Southern Nevada dipped from 94,600 in December to 93,300 in January; manufacturing fell from 24,000 to 23,600; trade employment slipped from 148,900 to 142,000 in January; hotel and casino employment dropped by 100 jobs to 167,100 in January; and government employment slumped from 87,400 in December to 84,000.
The department said that due to the revisions the average job growth in 2004 statewide was raised from 4.5 percent to 5.9 percent. And the state's unemployment rate was adjusted from 4.1 percent to 4.3 percent for the year, still 1.1 percentage points lower than the national average.
Washoe and Storey counties had a combined jobless rate of 4.7 percent, up from the 3.4 percent in December. There were an estimated 10,400 unemployed. Total jobs fell from 215,300 in December to 207,700 in January.
Carson City reported an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent with 1,500 workers out of a job. That compared with 4.7 percent in January. Total employment fell from 32,400 in December to 31,800 in January.
Elko and Eureka posted a 4 percent unemployment rate, up from 3.3 percent in December. There were an estimated 1,100 people out of work. Total employment dropped from 26,000 in December to 25,600 in January.
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