By Nevada News Bureau Staff
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment rate hit another record high in June, reaching 14.2 percent as 193,000 residents looked for work, a state agency reported today.

Carson City's unemployment rate rose to 13.4 percent. The rate in Las Vegas hit 14.5 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from May.

The June statewide jobless rate was an increase of two-tenths of a percentage point from May, which was the previous record at 14 percent, according to the monthly report from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

At the national level, the unemployment rate declined from 9.7 percent to 9.5 percent.

“This is a good sign, since a national economic rebound is a prerequisite for improvement in Nevada,” the report said. “But with stimulus dollars running short and private employers thus far sitting on the sidelines, expectations for near-term economic growth have diminished somewhat of late.”

Statewide, total employment decreased by 1,400, even though private sector employers added 3,400 jobs. Seasonal declines in state and local government offset improvement in the private sector.

Employers in the trade, transportation and utilities industry, which include wholesale and retail trade, added 2,000 jobs. The previous month’s unusual job contraction in the education and health services sector reversed itself in June with an over-the-month employment increase of 2,100. Preliminary data in the construction industry brought an unanticipated loss of 2,400 jobs as many participants in the survey indicated the end of specific projects as the reason for the lower employment numbers.

State and local government employers shed 4,800 jobs, but most were seasonal, tied to the end of the school year. The temporary census hiring which fueled the previous increases in federal government employment has ended, and the positions will cease to exist in the next couple of months.