Unemployment rate leaves few people looking for work

RENO, Nev. - A low state jobless rate is good news for all the people who are working this holiday season, but it's causing problems for employers who are looking for workers.

The Washoe County school district is the Reno area's biggest employer with 7,000 people. And it's having a hard time filling bus driver, nutrition service, custodial and special education teaching aide positions.

That means school officials are redoubling efforts to recruit workers amid Reno's state-leading low unemployment.

The district is competing in an unemployment market that in October dipped to 2.6 percent in Washoe County.

That is a drop of 0.1 percent from September, just 0.2 of a point off the record 2.4 percent jobless rate in May.

Statewide, the jobless rate inched up to 4.2 percent in October, up 0.2 percent from September but still 0.3 of a point below October of a year ago.

Myla Florence, director of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, welcomed the news.

''With more than enough jobs to go around in urban Nevada, the majority of us can be thankful for a rosy employment picture,'' she said. ''Rural counties, however, continue to struggle from low gold prices.''

Except for mining, Nevada's economy remains strong, Florence said.

Unemployment in greater Las Vegas matched the state rate at 4.2 percent in October, down from a 4.3 percent rate in September.

Carson City and the Elko areas also had low unemployment rates of 3.5 percent. Carson was off 0.1 percent from September and Elko's labor market area, where the bulk of Nevada's mines are located, gained 0.1 percent.

Nationally in October the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, while the California rate was 4.7 percent.

In Nevada, 1,054,100 people had jobs in October, an increase of 42,600 in the past year, but the mining industry has lost 500 jobs in the past year, declining to a work force of 11,000.