(The Center Square) — Nevada’s unemployment rate modestly dropped in May, with the labor force growing by 3,484 workers.
The employment rate kept in line with the U.S. for the month, while Nevada’s employment growth continued to lag behind the nation across the year.
“In May, we continued to see modest improvements in Nevada’s labor markets, with ongoing employment growth and further declines in the unemployment rate,” said David Schmidt, chief economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. “Further, Nevada’s labor force participation rate increased to 63 percent, higher than the national average of 62.4 percent. Wage gains continued with hourly wages up 6.8 percent and weekly wages up 7.5 percent over the last year.”
The Silver State’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 5.5% in May, a continuation of a positive trend, as per the DETR’s latest report.
This has been helped on by an increase of 500 available jobs. The largest gains were in education and health services, and professional and business services. On the other end, the leisure and hospitality sector saw a loss of 900 jobs within the month.
Across the last year, education and health services have easily remained the biggest source of new jobs for Nevadans with 7,500 hirings.
For Nevada’s three metro areas, Reno and Las Vegas both experienced above average employment growth for May, while Carson City added no new jobs. Year-to-year, the Reno (1.4%) and Carson City (1.9%) areas outpaced Nevadan (0.6%) job growth, while Las Vegas lagged behind (0.2%).
