The Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation recently released the latest unemployment rates for Nevada, and the results are shocking:
- Nine out of seventeen counties reported an increase in unemployment rates ranging between 0.1 and 1.3 percentage points between January & February of 2010. Mineral posted the largest month-to-month increase.
- The unemployment rates for three counties remained unchanged.
- Five counties, including Washoe (-0.1%) reported decreases in unemployment rates, ranging between 0.1 and 0.4% (Pershing).
- The unadjusted rate for the state remains unchanged at 13.7%, whereas the seasonally adjusted rate increased to 13.2% from 13.0%.
Unemployment remains the most serious threat to Nevada’s economy — so long as people are worried about finding or maintaining a job, they will continue to spend less (affecting taxable sales), gamble less (affecting taxable gaming revenue), and travel less (affecting both). Because Nevada relies heavily on taxable sales revenue and gaming tax revenue to fund the state’s operations, these are critically important components of Nevada’s economy. Additionally, there’s little hope of home defaults and foreclosures subsiding so long as unemployment continues to affect so many families. Once we start to see employment stabilize, only then will we truly be able to realize a recovery in the housing market and start seeing property tax revenue begin to rebound.
To download the latest unemployment rate map, visit the Employment Data section of our website at www.centerforregionalstudies.org, and subscribe to our News and Announcements blog using the RSS Feeder on our site to get updates delivered to your inbox in real time!
