Nevada unemployment rate at 5.9 percent for March

Nevada’s unemployment rate remained below the 6 percent mark in March for the second month in eight years.

The raw rate was at 5.9 percent. The seasonally adjusted rate that takes into consideration regular, annual swings in employment was at 5.8 percent.

Churchill County saw a 400-person increase in the labor force and a commensurate increase in the number of people employed. So the rate there remained the same as February at 5.8 percent. State records show just 642 out of 11,040 in the labor force seeking a job.

The unemployment rate in Las Vegas increased four tenths to 6 percent but is still down 1.2 percent compared to March 2015.

Reno-Sparks also saw an incremental increase in the jobless rate, from 5.3 percent to 5.5 percent.

The metro reporting area with the lowest rate remains Elko at 5 percent but that too is up from February’s 4.8 percent.

Carson City remained higher, edging up a tenth to 6.8 percent compared to February. That may be because of a slight — 100-person — increase in the workforce to 24,900. Total employment increased by 400 in Carson from February to March.

There are about 1,700 people looking for work in Carson. Total unemployment is 1.4 percent under the same month a year ago.

Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said the rate remains below 9 percent in all Nevada counties.

Statewide, he said, employment increased by 6,500 in March. Some 3,400 of those jobs were in the Las Vegas area and 2,300 in Reno-Sparks.

In Douglas County, unemployment went up two tenths to 5.9 percent with 1,374 jobless in a pool of 23,152.

Lyon County is at 8.1 percent unemployment. That’s actually two tenths down from February. With 22,158 in the labor force, that translates to 1,805 jobless.

Mineral County remains the highest unemployment in Nevada at 8.8 percent. The county’s labor force is just 1,595 in Mineral so there are 141 people looking for a job.

The lowest jobless rates in Nevada during March were in Esmeralda at 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent in Eureka — both mining economies.