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Unemployment rate continues to decline as Nevada adds back jobs

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Nevada’s unemployment rate continues to improve according to the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s (DETR) May 2021 economic report. The state’s overall, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 7.8%, down only slightly from April but 16 percentage points lower than one year prior.

Reno’s May unemployment rate is the lowest among the state’s three metropolitan areas at 4.5%. Las Vegas has an 8.9% unemployment rate and the Carson area sits at 5%.

Reno employment had an seasonally adjusted increase of 800 jobs (0.3%) since April. It’s added back 32,800 jobs since May 2020.

DETR chief economist David Schmidt said the state’s full reopening and the addition of more than 10,000 jobs statewide over the past month—and nearly 213,000 over the past year—has helped Nevada’s unemployment numbers continue to improve.

“This month’s data gives us our first look at the employment impacts from the state’s move back to being 100% open, and where that process stood in the middle of May,” Schmidt said. “While employment has not fully recovered and unemployment remains high, the trends consistently point to an ongoing recovery as we head into the summer.”

Schmidt noted strong growth in the food services and leisure and hospitality industries, which led the state in most jobs added in May. Pent up demand for summer tourism, he said, is pushing job growth in the leisure and hospitality sector. It added 9,500 jobs in May, 6,800 of which were in Las Vegas. The food services industry added 5,400 jobs since April, growing employment in that sector by 4.5%.

Claims for weekly unemployment benefits also fell in May by 30,000 statewide. Schmidt said that decline continues a trend that began in March. The average weekly benefit unemployment claimants in Washoe County receive is $339.50.

For a look at unemployment rates in each county visit DETR’s Area Profiles Page. To see additional labor market data view the department’s employment and unemployment dashboards located at www.nevadaworkforce.com.

Source: DETR

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