Nevada unemployment continues to drop; only Clark in double digits

Unemployment rates continued to fall across Nevada in August. Only Clark County remained in double digits with a 15.5 percent jobless rate.

Nye County was second highest at 9.6 percent.

Western Nevada statistical areas were faring much better ranging from 7.2 percent in Washoe County and 7.3 percent in Douglas and Carson City. The outlier was Lyon County at 8 percent unemployment.

Dave Schmidt, chief economist for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said Carson City added 300 jobs during August, two-thirds of that total in trade, transportation and utilities. But the capital is still down 1,400 jobs — 4.5 percent — compared to August 2019. Carson has 23,578 employed and 1,856 seeking work.

The Reno statistical area gained 1,900 jobs since July, 900 of them in the government sector. Washoe County reported 226,427 employed by the end of August with 17,628 out of work.

In Churchill County, 9,905 were employed and just 551 jobless, a rate of just 5.3 percent.. Douglas reported 20,910 working and 1,635 looking for work.

Lyon County had 20,468 employed with 1,769 jobless.

The Las Vegas metropolitan reporting area had 932,351 employed but 170,575 out of work as of the end of August. Schmidt said the impact of the coronavirus is most severe in Clark County because of the huge reliance on hospitality and tourism.

But the Las Vegas area added 5,900 jobs over the month.

He said Nevada has now added jobs for the fourth straight month, pulling the statewide unemployment rate down to 13.2 percent.

At the other end of the state, significant growth in mining categories has driven the Elko reporting area’s jobless rate down to just 4.7 percent with 24,247 working and 1,196 looking for work.

Neighboring Eureka County, which also relies heavily on the mining industry, had a rate of just 3.9 percent. There are 861 working in Eureka and just 35 unemployed.