Small-business employment in Nevada tops 600K

Nevada’s small businesses set an employment record in the second quarter.

For the first time ever, businesses in the state with fewer than 100 employees have a total of 603,000 employees.

Tim Wilcox, an economist for Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said in a statement that it’s the first time small-business employment has exceeded 600,000 jobs.

The second quarter saw an increase of 12,200 jobs from the first quarter of the year.

“All told, the 21,900 job year-over-year gain recorded in this year’s second quarter translates into the 22nd consecutive quarter of annualized growth,” Wilcox said.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, just before the recession, small-business employment peaked at just over 585,000 jobs with small businesses accounting for 52 percent of total private-sector employment.

The second-quarter numbers “represents the strongest advance during the recovery period,” Wilcox added, with small businesses currently accounting for 53 percent of total private-sector employment.