LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Nevada’s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points over the last month, dropping to 4.7% — the lowest the state has seen since before the pandemic — as the state added jobs and reached a record high in total nonfarm employment.
The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s monthly jobs report showed 1,500 jobs were added to the Las Vegas market from August to September. The report said job growth was driven by gains in both Las Vegas and Reno and was concentrated in health care, business services and construction.
Nicholas Irwin, an associate professor of economics at UNLV, cautioned against focusing too heavily on a single month’s numbers.
“It’s easy to get excited or upset about one particular number, but just remember, these numbers will change,” Irwin said. He said people should look at the numbers over a period of six to 12 months to get a better understanding of the unemployment rate.
“It’s been high, it’s been higher than the average, and we’re not seeing the sort of growth locally that maybe we would expect,” Irwin said.
According to the report, the two largest decreases in jobs were in professional and business services, and trade, transportation and utilities. The largest increases were in leisure and hospitality and construction.
Despite an increase in the number of jobs, officials reported the state’s total compensation is down nearly 12%. Irwin said that decline, combined with rising prices, is squeezing household budgets.
“If total compensation is down and inflation is up, that means fewer dollars in our pocket, and the price of goods is going up, so that’s a real material loss in household spending,” Irwin said.
Potential homebuyers have been among those hit hardest by higher prices.
Broker David Brownell, who has tracked the Las Vegas housing market for years, said affordability has been a long-running issue.
“It takes a median income right now in Las Vegas of about $120,000 household income to be able to afford what the middle-of-the-road house is,” Brownell said. “That means only about 30% of all our local residents right now could actually go out and buy a median-priced home in Las Vegas.”
Brownell said a combination of high interest rates and high home prices has worsened the current market.
“470,000 to 480,000 is the current median sales price for a single-family house,” he said.
Brownell said that for many households, reaching the income needed to buy a median-priced home likely requires two earners.
“Right now, at $120,000 just to get the median-priced home, that’s definitely two wage earners if it’s not a management or maybe executive-style position; that’s two wage earners to support that household,” Brownell said.
Nevada has the seventh-highest unemployment rate in the country, but the jobs report also said the total number of nonfarm jobs hit a record high for the state at more than 1.6 million.