Carson City, Reno and Vegas lead statewide Nevada employment growth in May

CARSON CITY — For the eighth consecutive month, Nevada has held the fastest rate of new job growth in the nation, according to May 2019 employment figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Statewide, jobs increased by 4.0 percent, a gain of 55,200 new jobs added since May of last year.

The Reno metropolitan statistical area (MSA) added jobs at the rate of 6.2 percent during the same period, while Las Vegas and Carson City grew by 2.8 and 3.6 percent respectively. All three MSAs had faster employment growth rates than the national rate of 1.6 percent.

The metro areas all had seasonally adjusted (data adjusted to show underlying trends in employment) increases compared to April of 200 jobs in Carson City, 4,100 jobs in Las Vegas, and 1,900 jobs in Reno.

May’s unemployment changes in the Silver State show decreases in the metro areas compared to last year, but increases or no change when compared to April. Similar trends were seen in the counties, and in many of our cities and combined regional areas.

On a county level, decreases from last year were seen in 14 of 17 counties with increases in the remaining three counties. Compared to April, three counties saw decreases in unemployment, three remained constant, and eleven counties had increases in unemployment. All cities, state specific areas, and combined regional areas, showed decreases compared to May last year, except Fernley which remained constant.

Nevada continued to lead the nation in job creation on an annual basis, a trend reflected in today’s report on the state’s local areas, said David Schmidt, chief economist, for Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

All three of the state’s MSAs experienced job growth exceeding the national average of 1.6 percent. Unemployment rates across the state’s metro areas showed decreases compared to May 2018, with unemployment broadly down over the year in Nevada’s cities and counties, he said.

"May's report also reflects the trends seen statewide — low unemployment and rising employment levels. Together, these indicators point to how tight the Nevada labor market remains and the opportunities this should present Nevada’s workers,” said Schmidt.

May 2019 Economic Report Highlights:
Job Growth in May (Seasonally-Adjusted):
— Carson City added 200 jobs over the month, and is up 1,100 jobs over the year (3.6 percent).
— Reno added 1,900 jobs over the month and 15,100 over the year (6.2 percent).
— Las Vegas is up 4,100 jobs over the month and is up 27,700 over the year (2.8 percent).
All three of the metro areas have employment growth rates higher than the national growth rate of 1.6 percent.

Unemployment:
— Carson City: 3.8 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from April, and down 0.7 percentage point from a year ago.
— Reno: 3.0 percent; unchanged from April, down 0.4 percentage from this time last year.
— Las Vegas: 4.0 percent; up 0.2 percentage point from April, and down 0.6 percentage point from a year ago.

Compared to April, Lincoln at 3.9 percent, Lyon at 4.4 percent, and Eureka at 2.4 percent showed decreases in in all the remaining counties for unemployment; Lander, Douglas, and Elko remained constant; and the remaining counties had increases ranging from 0.1 percent in Churchill, White Pine and Carson City to 1.2 percent in Pershing.
o Counties experienced changes in unemployment when compared to last year with Churchill, Washoe, and Pershing increasing; and the remaining counties having decreases ranging from 0.1 percent in Elko to Esmeralda decreasing 2.7 percent.

— The state’s lowest unemployment rate was in Eureka at 2.4 percent, and Nye had the highest at 5.2 percent.
— On a city level Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Sparks, and Reno had decreases in unemployment on an annual basis, but compared to April, all these cities saw increases with the exception of Reno that remained constant.

— The cities of Boulder, Elko, and Mesquite had decreases in unemployment, and Fernley remained constant all likened to this time last year. Compared to April, Fernley decreased by 0.2 percent, Boulder and Elko remained constant, and Mesquite increased 0.5 percent.

From fourth quarter of 2017 to fourth quarter of 2018, 13 of 17 counties experienced job growth with Storey County growing at an amazing rate of 50 percent, while the Silver State grew by 4 percent.

The County with the highest average weekly wage was Eureka at $1,933, while Mineral county realized the highest rate of growth at 7.8 percent compared to 2017.

Reno metro area has 5th highest private sector job growth amongst all MSA’s in the nation. Clark County job ads increased by 10,982 over May 2018, totaling 23,186 ads for the month. Continued claims without earnings trending down across race groups concentrated in Clark County, Washoe, and Carson City.

Small business employment continues to grow with Clark County seeing an increase of 30.7 percent since lows in the first quarter of 2010, and Washoe County at 27.2 percent respectively.

Washoe County had an increase of 1,772 job ads from this time 2018 for a total of 5,022.