According to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s (DETR) January 2020 economic report, employment in Nevada is up 3,900 jobs over the month and up 22,800 over the year, a growth rate of 1.6 percent. DETR notes that is at the low end of the range seen over the last year (1.5% – 3.4%), and is the fourth month of job growth in the 1.5% to 1.7% range.

Construction added the most jobs out of all sectors, increasing by an average of 6,700 jobs over the same time in the year prior. The private sector drove job growth by beating seasonal expectations coming out of the holiday season, while adjusted public sector jobs fell by 700.

The state’s unemployment rate is 3.6 percent this month, down 0.1 percentage point from December and down half a percentage point when compared to last January. That is the lowest rate dating back to 1976, and is down more than 10 percentage points from its all-time high. For the first time since July 2007, there is no longer a gap between Nevada’s unemployment rate and the nation’s. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics recently noted that Nevada was one of 18 states to notch a new all-time low for average annual unemployment rate in 2019, at 3.9 percent.

DETR’s report also notes that Nevada’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims are down 2,521 claims over the month and 863 claims over the year. The 12-month average level of initial claims continues to trend below 10,000, for only the third time since March 1999.