Nevada jobless rate dips to 5.1 percent

Nevada’s jobless rate finished January at 5 percent seasonally adjusted and 5.1 percent without that adjustment.

That’s actually a tick higher than the 4.9 percent raw rate reported in December. Even so, that’s more than a percent lower than a year ago when the raw rate was 6.5 percent.

Carson City, however, was up a half percent to 5.9 percent for the month, primarily due to a 200-worker reduction reported by the state and the normal seasonal reduction in holiday retail and other service employment. The state employs some 6,700 people in the capital, a quarter of the workforce.

The jobless rate was 5.1 percent in the Las Vegas metropolitan area but just 4.7 percent in Reno/Sparks.

Over the course of the year, Las Vegas gained 34,600 jobs, according to economist Bill Anderson. That’s a 3.7 percent increase.

Carson City added 500 jobs over the year but Reno/Sparks had the fastest growth — 4.2 percent and 9,000 new jobs. Washoe County lists 230,017 in the labor force, 219,135 employed and just 10,882 without work.

Carson’s labor force was listed at 24,485 in January with 23,029 employed and 1,456 looking for work.

Churchill County reported a labor force of 10,069 workers, 9,521 with jobs and 548 looking — an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.

Douglas County has 22,595 in the labor force and 1,187 seeking work. That translates to a jobless rate of 5.3 percent.

Lyon County has the state’s worst unemployment rate at 7.2 percent. There are 1,509 workers jobless in a labor pool of 20,938.

In contrast, Esmeralda County, which is enjoying a mining boom, has a jobless rate of just 3.6 percent. Just 17 of that county’s workers were listed as seeking work in a labor force of 474.