State’s jobless rate jumps to 9.4 percent

By Nicole Lucht

Friday, March 6, 2009 | 8:25 a.m.

Nevada's jobless rate hit 9.4 percent in January, a full percentage point increase from December's revised rate of 8.4 percent.

Originally, state economists reported December's unemployment rate at 9.1 percent. The rate was revised downward after the state adjusted its population estimate and used other modeling techniques, Bill Anderson, chief economist for the state's Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Department said in a statement announcing January's rate.

“Typically, we would expect unemployment to increase in January, relative to December,” Anderson said. The state's jobless rate in November was 8 percent.

“This year, that increase was stronger than normal, as reflected in the rise in the seasonally adjusted jobless rate. The normal December-January increase in unemployment was exacerbated by current economic conditions, as the recession’s impacts continued to hit Nevada especially hard."

Nevada continues to pace ahead of the national unemployment rate, which increased from 7.6 percent in December to 8.1 percent in January.

The state also has the third fastest increase in the jobless rate, increasing 2 percentage points from its 2007 average to its 2008 average, trailing Rhode Island (2.6 percentage points) and Florida (2.1 percentage points).

Nevada's unemployment call centers are fielding 25,000 calls per week, the state reported. There are 96,000 people receiving unemployment benefits per week, and more than 106,000 claims being filed every week.

“The State’s deteriorating labor markets are having broad-ranging impacts,” Anderson said. “For several years running, Nevada led the nation in population growth. However, preliminary information suggests that population growth has slowed markedly as the economy has weakened. Nevada’s population grew by just 0.8 percent in 2008. Over the 1997-2007 period, population gains averaged 4.3 percent annually.”