GARDNERVILLE, Nev. — Signs of full employment can be seen hanging at small businesses and restaurants across Carson Valley, where it seems just about every place is seeking workers.
That observation is borne out by unemployment figures release by the state that show the jobless rate in Douglas County dropped to 3.9 percent in June, its lowest level since the Great Recession.
The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reports only 925 people on the jobless rolls.
According to the state, 22,615 people were employed during the month, the highest number for the year.
Douglas County peaked at unemployment of 15.7 percent in December 2010, during the depths of the Great Recession. It was the third-highest jobless rate in Nevada, and was generally blamed on the collapse of the building industry.
The unemployment numbers do not include those whose benefits have expired or those who’ve stopped looking for work.
Taxable sales numbers were essentially flat for Douglas County in May after three months of double digit growth.
The county’s merchants rang up $59.1 million, up .9 percent in sales compared to May 2017.
Coming into the last month of the fiscal year, the county is still up 9 percent to $701.5 million compared to the prior year.
With most of the completion of purchases for the Bently Heritage Distillery, the beverage and tobacco produce manufacturing sector dropped back to its average of $169,000.
Purchase of equipment for the project sector contributed to $22.9 million in taxable sales for the year, up from only $2.1 million the year before.
Helping to make up for the decrease were merchant wholesalers of durable goods, who brought in $5.28 million during May, up 23 percent from the same month in 2017.
The county’s largest sector, food services and drinking places, was up 5.4 percent to $11.8 million. That sector gauges the health of the Stateline casinos where much of that revenue is generated.
General merchandise stores in Douglas County were up 5.5 percent to $8.5 million during May. The county is home to two Walmarts and a Target.
Building season contributed to taxable sales with $4.4 million up 5.1 percent from last year.
But one of last year’s larger sectors, motor vehicle and parts dealers had only half its taxable sales this year with $2 million. There is only one small auto dealership in Douglas County.
Because Douglas County is a guaranteed county, it receives the same amount of revenue from the state, regardless of its actual sales tax generation.
Douglas raised $915,310 is sales taxes while receiving $1.2 million from the state.
The chief source of Douglas County’s gaming revenues, the casinos at Stateline, wrapped up the fiscal year on a down note.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the Stateline clubs had a total win of $18.7 million in June 2018, down 8.65 percent from the prior June.
Despite the drop, the casinos coasted to a 1.71 percent increase over the prior year, raking in $226.7 million.
Meanwhile, casinos in East Fork Township and Carson City were up 7.34 percent to $9 million for June.
They rounded up the year with $108 million, up 7.9 percent.
