Nevada’s unemployment rate fell to seasonally adjusted 9.7 percent in January, which is the 18th straight month the state has seen a decline in the number of people unemployed. Now below Rhode Island, the Silver State is no longer considered the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country, a position it had held since February 2010.
The unemployment rate in Carson City is down 1.8 percentage points since last year and stood at 11.2 percent in January 2013.
“I am pleased that we are starting to see consistent improvement, on a monthly basis, in our labor market indicators,” Governor Brian Sandoval said in a news release. “What’s more, some of the industries which were hardest-hit by the recession, like construction and manufacturing, appear to have stabilized and are on the path to improvement. Our efforts to diversify our economy and grow businesses have helped to create new jobs, open new markets for Nevada businesses and expand opportunity. This month’s unemployment number is an indication we must continue to build upon this work.”
Statewide, January figures show 132,600 people were out of work. Nevada’s unemployment rate has been on a downward path since early-2011 and recently fell into the single digits in December said Bill Anderson, chief economist for Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR).
“The state’s economy continued to produce new jobs at a decent pace, adding a seasonally adjusted 6,600 jobs over-the-month,” Anderson said. “Nevada’s over-the-year job growth rate of 2.5 percent (January-January) is a full percentage point higher than national growth for the same period. Taken as a whole, most economic and labor market barometers are pointing in a positive direction, so we maintain an outlook of improvement in the job market in 2013 as momentum continues to build in the recovery.”