Although Nevada's unemployment rate is 11.6%, more than one in five people, in the Silver State, do not have a full-time job. The U-6 unemployment rate is a broader measure of unemployment that includes people who have stopped looking for work, and part-time workers who want a full-time job. Nevada's rate is the highest in the nation at 22.1%. Those numbers are continuing to improve, but very slowly.
Job growth, in the Silver State, is basically flat. The unemployment rate hasn't changed in two months, and the "actual" jobless rate is down just .2% through the second quarter. That means there are still many discouraged workers in Nevada.
"People who would like a job but specifically believe there is no job available out there for them," Economist Leanndra Copeland said. "So, they don't look for work."
More people are also working less than 35 hours a week, either because they can't find full-time work or because they have had their hours cut.
"That spiked throughout the recession and it's at elevated levels, even though it has started to come down a little bit," Copeland said. "We still see it at high levels."
The job sectors that are still having the toughest time are government jobs, especially on the local level. Many cities and counties have made cuts to fire and police departments. Construction continues to struggle although the rate of decline is slowing down. And financial careers, like banking and real estate, are still feeling the pain from the recession. But economists say there are also promising numbers.
"We have seen some encouraging signs, recently," Copeland said. "Like, the private sector job growth has had year-over-year gains for about a year-and-a-half."
Over the past year, Nevada's unemployment rate has dropped, but so has the labor force.
"It could be because they're moving out or it could be because they're retiring or it could be that they no longer wish to look for work," Copeland said.
California is the only other state with a U-6 unemployment rate over 20%. Their rate is 20.3%. North Dakota has the lowest rate at just 6.1%.
Written by Paul Nelson
