Carson City sees big drop in unemployment rate

Nevada’s raw unemployment rate fell another tenth in April, finishing the month at just 3.6 percent with just 54,400 people looking for a job in the state.

One of the most dramatic reductions was in the Carson City area where the rate fell from 4.1 to just 3.6 percent. In the capital, just 900 people in the 26,200 person labor force are jobless.

Total employment in private service producing industries rose from 16,700 to 17,000 while governmental employment remained static at 10,100. Carson City is up 1,100 jobs over the year.

The lowest unemployment rate among the metropolitan reporting areas is the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area at 2.9 percent. That’s three tenths lower than March and, when those not looking for work are removed, is essentially a zero jobless rate.

There are 261,100 in the Reno/Sparks labor force and the April numbers show just 7,500 of them seeking employment. The area added 600 jobs over the month and has grown 13,600 over the past year.

That rate is matched in the Elko micropolitan reporting area where just 800 of 27,700 workers were jobless.

Las Vegas also saw a decrease but only by a tenth of a percent. The 3.7 percent rate translates to 41,400 jobless in a pool of 1,1 million.

In Churchill County, the jobless rate dipped from 3.5 percent to 3.4 percent. The unemployment rate there has fallen in every month of this calendar year so far. Churchill has 938 job seekers in a pool of 26,180.

Douglas County saw its rate fall four tenths in April to 3.6 percent with 824 out of work in a labor force of 22,699. Douglas too has seen a decrease in every month this year.

Compared to most other counties, Lyon County continues to struggle a bit. But its jobless rate is down to 4.4 percent, the lowest in several years and significant reduction from the 6.3 percent in January. There are 22,740 workers in Lyon. Just 1,008 of them are without work.