Las Vegas jobless rate still highest in US among big metro areas

Las Vegas’ economy has come a long way since the dark days of the pandemic when casinos were forced to close and unemployment shot past 30 percent in the tourism-dependent region.

But more than four years after the public health crisis upended daily life, Southern Nevada’s jobless rate is still above its pre-pandemic level — and it’s highest in the nation among large metro areas.

The Las Vegas area’s unemployment rate in April was 5.2 percent, the highest on a list of 51 large metro areas’ jobless rates tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nashville, Tennessee, had the lowest jobless rate on the list, at 2.2 percent.

Here’s a look at how Las Vegas’ unemployment rate compared to several other metro areas in February 2020, the month before the pandemic shut down much of the economy; in April 2020; and this past April.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.