Jobs Report: Reno, Carson City and Vegas lead nation in metro area employment growth
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Tue, 09/24/2019 - 10:13am
Reno, Carson City and Las Vegas metro areas continued to show impressive job growth in August and over the year, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s August 2019 economic sub-state report.
Jobs statewide increased by 3.0 percent, a gain of 42,100 new jobs added since August of last year. During the same period, the Reno metropolitan statistical area (MSA) added jobs at the rate of 6.1 percent, while Carson City grew by 3.7 percent and Las Vegas, 1.8 percent.
All three MSAs had faster employment growth rates than the national rate of 1.4 percent, and showed growth over the year, the report states. Both the Las Vegas and Reno MSAs had seasonally adjusted (data adjusted to show underlying trends in employment) increases of 3,400 jobs and 500 jobs respectively, and Carson City remained constant when compared to August of last year.
From the first quarter 2018 to the same quarter 2019, 14 of 17 counties experienced job growth as measured by place of employment. Storey County, for example, surged at 30 percent growth, according to the report.
“In August, Nevada again led the nation in job growth, for the 11th month in a row. That growth is reflected in the metropolitan areas around the state, with robust employment growth in all the of the state’s MSAs showing seasonally adjusted increases outpacing the national rate of 1.4 percent," said David Schmidt, Chief Economist, for Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
Unemployment rates in the counties and metro areas were generally improved over August last year, he added.
"Ongoing employment growth with low overall unemployment rates continue to paint a picture of a strong economy with a tight labor market, supporting improving job prospects for Nevadans across the state,” said Schmidt.
August’s report also illustrated that unemployment was down compared to July of this year, and August 2018 within all the state’s MSAs. On a county level, decreases compared to last year were seen in 16 of 17 counties with an increase of 0.1 percent in Lander.
Since July, Esmeralda County saw an increase of 0.3 percent in unemployment, while the remaining counties had decreases in unemployment.
All published cities and combined regional areas showed decreases or remained constant compared to August last year. When compared to July, all these areas had decreases in unemployment, except Mesquite which showed an increase of 0.1 percent from July.
Additional August 2019 Economic Report Highlights:
Job Growth in August (Seasonally-Adjusted):
Carson City remained constant over the month, and is up 1,100 jobs over the year (3.7 percent).
Reno added 500 jobs over the month and 14,900 over the year (6.1 percent).
Las Vegas is up 3,400 jobs over the month and is up 17,900 over the year (1.8 percent).
All three of the metro areas have employment growth rates higher than the national growth rate of 1.4 percent.
Unemployment:
Carson City: 3.9 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from July, and down 0.3 percentage point from a year ago.
Reno: 3.2 percent; down 0.2 percentage point from last month, down 0.4 percentage from this time last year.
Las Vegas: 4.5 percent; down 0.2 percentage point from July, and down 0.3 percentage point from a year ago.
Since August 2018, 16 of 17 counties showed decreases in unemployment with Lander showing increase of 0.1 percent.
Esmeralda County had an over the month increase in unemployment of 0.3 percent.
The remaining counties had decreases in unemployment when compared to July. Decreases ranged from 0.1 percent in Douglas and Lander to 0.5 percent in Lincoln, Mineral, and Pershing.
Eureka, at 2.9 percent had the State’s lowest unemployment rate, and Nye had the highest at 5.5 percent.
On a city level Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Sparks, Reno, Boulder, Elko, and Fernley had decreases in unemployment, while Mesquite increased by 0.1 percent all compared to July.
When compared to August 2018, all published cities, state-specific areas, and combined statistical areas decreased in unemployment except for Boulder and Mesquite that remained constant.
The county average weekly wages ranged from $750 in Lincoln to $2,230 in Eureka. Douglas County realized the highest rate of growth at 9.0 percent compared to the first quarter 2018, and Eureka County had the lowest decreasing 5.4 percent over the same time.
Reno MSA compares favorably to other similarly populated MSA’s in terms of private sector employment growth, but has only experienced average wage growth, while cost of living ranks as one of the highest at 38th of 255 possible MSAs.
