Nevada unemployment rate stays at 6.8 percent in August

Nevada’s unemployment rate went unchanged in August.

The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Friday that Nevada’s jobless rate stayed the same in August as July, at 6.8 percent.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement that the state was number one in job growth and that he was pleased with the labor market.

But the latest figure marks the second plateau in a year that Nevada reported among the highest unemployment rates in the country.

It held at 7.1 percent between January and April, following its first month-over-month increase in more than four years as recorded between December 2014 and January 2015.

In May, Nevada’s 7 percent unemployment rate was behind only West Virginia’s 7.2 percent.