Unemployment up a bit from June

State officials blame teachers and others who are "seasonally unemployed" during the summer for the second straight monthly increase in Nevada's unemployment rate.

The rate was just 3.7 percent in May but rose to 4.1 percent in June. July's numbers released this past week show another two-tenths increase in the non-seasonally adjusted rate to 4.3 percent statewide.

That equates to 52,200 unemployed in Nevada.

"We expect the unemployment rate to increase slightly during the summer months because many teachers and other school staff temporarily join the ranks of the unemployed," said Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Birgit Baker, director of the Employment Training and Rehabilitation department, said most of those people will return to work once school resumes.

Officials said the increase also includes a number of recent high school and college graduates now looking for work.

The two-tenths jump was pretty much universal in Nevada's labor market reporting areas. The Las Vegas-Paradise area rose from 4.1 percent unemployed to 4.3 percent in July, Elko from 3.9 percent to 4.1 percent and Carson City's rate increased from 4.3 percent to 4.5 percent.

The exception was the Reno-Sparks reporting area where the rate rose just one tenth of a percent to 3.9 percent.

Nevada, according to the monthly report, had a total labor force of 1,221,800 as of July - 1,169,600 employed. Of those workers, 828,300 were in the Las Vegas area and 204,700 in the Reno-Sparks area.

The Carson City area reported a total of 26,100 employed in July - about 200 less than the previous month but 200 more than July 2004.

Baker said even though the unemployment numbers were up a bit during the month, Nevada is doing much better than the nation as a whole or neighboring California. California's adjusted rate was 5.4 percent while the U.S. reported 5 percent unemployed for July.

n Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.