State unemployment rate continues downward in November

Nevada’s economy is slowly making gains nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state’s jobless rate dropped to 10.1 percent in November, down 1.8 percentage points from the month prior but 6.4 percentage points higher when compared with November 2019.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in November.

The state added 9,200 jobs over the month but compared with November 2019 was down 109,500 jobs, according to figures released Thursday by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Nevada employers added 32,700 workers in May, 98,000 workers in June, 14,800 workers in July, 6,500 workers in August, 3,400 workers in September and 3,600 workers in October.

“This month Nevada continued to experience a rebound in employment and unemployment, on par with the trend since August,” said David Schmidt, chief economist for DETR. Schmidt said that the full-service restaurant industry returned to pre-pandemic levels over the past two months and that retail and wholesale trade saw strong increases in employment greater “than normal seasonal patterns.”

Tourism-dependent Nevada was hit hard by the pandemic with a 28.2 percent unemployment rate in April as businesses across the valley closed the previous month to help contain the virus’s spread. Casinos, the state’s main economic engine, were allowed to reopen in early June.

“I’m encouraged to see that Nevada is continuing to add back jobs,” said DETR Director Elisa Cafferata in a release Thursday.

Contact Jonathan Ng at jng@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ByJonathanNg on Twitter.