Nevada unemployment rate dips slightly in July
Nevada’s job market continued its yearlong pandemic rebound during July, the state employment department reported.
The statewide unemployment rate dipped to 7.7 percent last month, down a tick from 7.8 percent in June, according to a report Thursday from the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Nevada’s unemployment rate in July 2020 was 16.6 percent.
Unemployment rates throughout the year have fallen since a high of 8.5 percent in January.
Nevada added 4,800 jobs across the state last month and has recovered about 68 percent of jobs lost during the recession. Overall employment has grown to within 92 percent of the pre-recession peak, the department said in its monthly jobless report.
Chief Economist David Schmidt said the numbers provide the best look so far at the pace of employment recovery since the state fully relaxed COVID-19 business restrictions in June.
“While July data is positive, there is still significant disruption to the economy as businesses and labor force seek to recover from the effects of the pandemic,” he said, adding that new COVID-19 variants still pose significant hurdles for the state’s economy recovery.
Some industries have exceeded their pre-recession peak employment while others remain significantly lower, Schmidt said.
The hotel-casino industry is 62 percent recovered but remains down 67,000 jobs, while food services is 97 percent recovered and retail trade employment is now 100 percent, he said.
Nevada’s unemployment rate continued to exceed the national average last month of 5.4 percent. In June, Nevada trailed only Connecticut and New Mexico — each at 7.9 percent — among states with the highest unemployment rate.
Total employment in Nevada last month reached 1.3 million, the department said.
Las Vegas employment increased by 6,500 jobs in July, or an increase of 0.7 percent over June. Local employment last month totaled 72,200 more jobs than in July 2020.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.