Nevada Ekes Out Some New Jobs to Topple Staggering Unemployment

Although plenty of hotels have grown accustomed to emptiness and most construction has stalled to a halt in Nevada, the state of Nevada still saw some improvement in employment last year.  Out of all states, Nevada– the state with the highest unemployment– saw the largest jobless rate decrease.

From May 2010 to May 2011, Nevada recorded the largest jobless rate decrease (?2.8 percentage points).  There are claims that improvements are being realized in southern Nevada  In Las Vegas, unemployment has gotten even worse– unemployment rose to 13.4 percent from 12 percent in April.

Two other states had rate decreases of more than 2.0 percentage points—Michigan (?2.5 points) and Indiana (?2.2 points).

Nevada continued to register the highest unemployment rate among the states, 12.1 percent in May. California recorded the next highest rate, 11.7 percent. North Dakota reported the lowest jobless rate, 3.2 percent, followed by Nebraska, 4.1 percent, and New Hampshire and South Dakota, 4.8 percent each.