Nevada’s April jobless rate doesn’t budge despite more jobs

From staff and wire reports

Wednesday, May 20, 2015 | noon

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s unemployment rate remained at 7.1 percent in April, the fourth straight month with no change.

The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported, however, a seasonally adjusted gain of 12,800 new jobs for the month, the largest monthly gain since April 2005.

Nevada’s chief economist, Bill Anderson, said in a statement that the state’s growing pool of workers is likely why the rate remained unchanged.

Compared to a year ago, the jobless rate fell one percentage point and employment in every sector grew except for natural resources and mining.

Construction employment statewide grew 5.2 percent; trade transportation and utilities rose 6.9 percent; and casino-hotel employment was up 8 percent.

The agency predicts the state’s employment numbers will surpass a pre-recession peak by mid-2016.

Before the recession, Nevada employed 1.1 million full-time workers before dropping to about 830,000 during the downturn. The number of full-time workers stood at 987,000 in April.

The national unemployment rate in April was 5.4 percent.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Cy Ryan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.