Nevada’s unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in January and the biggest change was in the Las Vegas area where a significant improvement was reported in the hotel casino industry.
In that category, which has lagged throughout the recovery, employment increased by 30,500 jobs.
Reno also reported good news with total employment now surpassing its pre-pandemic numbers. Unemployment in Reno-Sparks is just 3.2 percent of the 248,827-person labor force —7,975 people.
In Carson City, the jobless rate is 3.5 percent, or 889 of the 25,294-member labor force.
For the combined Reno, Carson City, Fernley area, there are 10,622 out of work in a pool of 320,913 workers — 3.3 percent.
Clark County remains the highest in unemployment at 5.9 percent.
Lyon County has also shown improvement and is now down to 4.1 percent unemployment with 990 of its 24,212 workers looking for work.
Churchill County is down to 2.6 percent out of work — just 311 of the 11,837 jobless.
Dave Schmidt, chief economist for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said initial claims for jobless benefits increased by 1,846 in January but he said that’s to be expected because of the seasonal layoffs after Christmas and New Year’s.
Statewide, 77,052 people are looking for work in a labor pool of 1.5 million.
