Growth in jobs uneven
Certain Nevada industries remain below peak levels
Nevada retains an unemployment rate below 5 percent but still awaits recovery in information, manufacturing and construction jobs.
So say the latest numbers from the state’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
The state posted an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent for July, the latest month available. The rate has hovered around 4.7 percent for the past three months.
In July, the state added 5,300 seasonally adjusted jobs, 74 percent of them in the private sector.
Year over year, the state saw an increase of 35,700 jobs, a 2.7 percent increase, compared to the nation’s year-over-year growth of 1.5 percent. The state’s job gain rate has beaten the nation’s every month over the past five years, according to the state report released Aug. 16.
Most of the jobs gained between July 2016 and July 2017 were in professional and business services. As of July, that sector had passed its pre-recession peak for total jobs.
The only sector to lose jobs was information, which includes telecommunications and is at 89.3 percent of its pre-recession peak.
At 96.4 percent of its pre-recession peak, financial services has just about recovered. Manufacturing is at 89 percent.
The financial services sector throughout the U.S. has bested its pre-recession levels.
Construction remains at 58.5 percent of its pre-recession peak, which was unsustainable anyway, according to the report. From 2001 to 2017, economic activity in construction decreased by $2.6 billion, or 33 percent.
Throughout the U.S., by comparison, construction economic activity
JOBS
declined by 3.1 percent. The U.S. hasalsorecovered89percentofits construction jobs since the pre-recession peak, compared to Nevada’s58.5percent.
Investments in residential, commercial and resorts construction have helped the state’s construction sector, Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon said.
“The tightening labor market is also likely to lead to increased wages going forward,” Gordon said.
The U.S. jobs report reflects the steady gains in a recovery from the Great Recession that has entered its ninth year. The overall unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent last month as employers added 209,000.
Several states saw strong job growth between June and July. California added 82,600 jobs. Florida gained 32,700, and Pennsylvania added 29,000.
North Dakota’s unemployment rate fell to a record 2.2 percent. Tennessee’s rate of 3.4 percent is also a record low for that state.
Alaska’s unemployment rate of 7 percent was the nation’s highest, followed by New Mexico at 6.3 percent.
Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-4602. Follow @ wademillward on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.