In December, the unemployment rate jumped seven-tenths of a percent to 13 percent, nearly matching the highest rate on record, September’s 13.3 percent. An estimated 176,000 Nevadans were unemployed. Changes in the unemployment rates in Nevada’s regional labor markets followed suit in December. The unemployment rate in Las Vegas jumped a full percentage point to 13.1 percent. In the Reno area, the unemployment rate increased 1.3 percentage points to 12.7 percent. In Carson City, the unemployment rate climbed to 12.7 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the month. (Unemployment rates for the State’s metropolitan areas are not adjusted for seasonality. For comparison purposes, the State’s unadjusted unemployment rate was 12.8 percent in December.)

“December marked the end of a historically bad year for Nevada’s economy,” Anderson said. “A year marred by record setting unemployment and job loss. To cap an already dismal year, employers shed an additional 12,500 jobs in December, casting further doubt on the likelihood of a near-term economic recovery in Nevada.”

In all, 76,100 jobs in Nevada were lost from 2008 to 2009. On an average annual basis, in 2009, the unemployment rate grew 5 percentage points, representing an increase of 72,600 unemployed Nevadans.

All metropolitan areas of the state lost jobs in December. In Las Vegas, employers reported 9,900 fewer jobs in December than November. Since December 2008, the area has lost 66,700 jobs or 7.4 percent. The Reno-Sparks labor market contracted by 1,600 jobs in December and is down 13,300 over the year. Carson City held steady, losing just 100, but remains 1,100 below year ago levels, Anderson said.

The much anticipated opening of CityCenter in Las Vegas failed to be the immediate catalyst the leisure and hospitality industry needed to stop the evaporation of jobs, Anderson said. In December, the industry lost 3,900 jobs statewide, with the majority of these losses, 3,000, coming from the Las Vegas area. With the opening of CityCenter, the construction phase came to an end and with it a big drop in construction employment. Across the state, the industry shed 5,300 jobs, with 4,700 job losses in Las Vegas alone. For the second year in a row, holiday hiring came in below the long term average. Typically, the retail industry temporarily hires roughly 6,000 workers between October and December. This year the industry added just 3,000 additional workers across the state.

“Over time, population and employment tend to move hand-in-hand,” Anderson said. “Prior to the current recession, Nevada’s economy was among the strongest in the nation, if not the strongest. As a result, the state served as a magnet for individuals in search of increased economic opportunity. Indeed, Nevada’s population growth was the most pronounced in the nation for essentially two decades prior to the current downturn.”

Nevada’s solid performance continued through the middle part of this decade. The decade started with optimism following years of significant growth, but with two recessions, one triggered by the worst terrorist event in U.S. history, and another triggered by the collapse of the housing bubble, the first ten years of the new millennium fell below initial expectations and potential. On average, the Nevada economy, as measured by employment gains, grew by 76 percent every decade since the 1940s. But, from December 1999 to December 2009, Nevada’s employment base grew by just 15 percent, marking the slowest rate of growth for a ten year period. At the same time, population growth slowed from 70 percent in the 1990s to 30 percent in the recently completed decade, Anderson said.

The current employment recession has now surpassed all recessions in the modern era in terms of depth and length. Prior to this recession, the longest, deepest employment recession occurred in the early 1980s. The recession of the 1980s lasted 18 months, and at its worst, job loss was 4.5 percent year-over-year. The current downturn is now two years old, and employment has fallen by greater than 6 percent.

“Despite the length and depth of the downturn, Nevada’s job market will likely worsen in the months ahead,” Anderson said.

Deconstructing the recession by industry reveals how and when different sectors began to succumb to the economic downturn. Construction employment peaked first in June 2006. Negative economic contagion then spread to nearly all industries within two years. Total employment didn’t peak until May 2007. Since then, all industries, except education and health services, have lost jobs. The education and health services industry has continued to grow given increased demand for services. Construction has, by far, lost the most jobs, 71,600, followed by leisure and hospitality with 44,100 jobs lost.

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Blue-collar job losses contrast with growth in health services, professions
By Allison Linn - Senior writer msnbc.com
View Original Article

There’s a major hurdle to the U.S. economy’s recovery: The mismatch between the skills held by the millions of people who are losing jobs and the expertise needed for the few jobs that are being created.

The nation lost 53,000 construction jobs during December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, the lion’s share of the net 85,000 jobs lost last month. It also shed 27,000 manufacturing jobs. Taken together, those two sectors have shed about 3.7 million jobs since the recession began in December of 2007.

By contrast, areas that saw job growth during the month included health services, which added around 22,000 jobs in December, and professional sectors such as architecture and engineering services, computer systems design and administrative and support services.

“The mismatch is there. People with certain kinds of skills that may not be readily transferable to other parts of the economy … continue to be hit really hard in this downturn,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

The job losses have been so extreme in sectors such as construction that many believe it could take several years for employment to return to its pre-recession levels.

In the meantime, millions of construction workers are unemployed and lack the training to get a job in the few fields that are hiring.

They also may simply not be a good fit.

“Do construction workers really want to go into an office?” Naroff said. “Those are really skilled workers, and a lot of them choose a lifestyle because they like it.”

Jobs in areas such as auto manufacturing may never return, leaving those workers with no choice but to find a job in a new field.

“It’s pretty clear there’s going to be a lot of structural unemployment, which means there’s a lot of people who have been laid off from jobs that just don’t exist anymore,” said Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Economy.com.

That could lead to higher levels of unemployment even after the economy has recovered more fully. Also, even if manufacturing workers eventually find new work, growing global competition may force them into jobs that pay less than the ones they lost.

“They have skills that might be transferable, but the question is, are they going to be able to match the kinds of salaries and benefits they were making in those companies?” Naroff said.  “A lot of people could be looking at a fairly permanent reduction in (salary).”

In total, the nation lost more jobs than most forecasters had expected in December, and the unemployment rate stayed steady at 10 percent.

One bright spot: Manufacturing job losses were not as bad as in the early months of the recession, which began in December 2007. Although that could be a sign the sector is stabilizing, it doesn’t mean factory jobs will return anytime soon.

Another potential positive is the continued increase in temporary help services. Employers added 47,000 temporary jobs in December, marking the fifth straight month of growth. Employers often add temporary positions before they commit to permanent jobs.

In contrast, the number of people who have been unemployed for six months or more reached 6.1 million in December, and now account for about 40 percent of unemployed Americans. Also, some people have dropped out of the labor force completely because they are so discouraged about their job prospects.

The unemployment report follows a week of economic news showing the U.S. recovery plodding along, although in fits and starts.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, reported stronger-than-expected manufacturing activity in December, and similar reports from other parts of the world also were encouraging.

The ISM also reported this week that the service sector showed marginal growth in the month, though it was less than many had hoped.

Many of the nation’s retailers reported slight gains for holiday season despite high unemployment and worries that consumers would be extremely frugal. The International Council of Shopping Centers said sales rose 1.8 percent for the November-December period, an improvement over the steep drop in the same period last year.

On Thursday, the government said the number of new claims for unemployment benefits barely rose last week, another sign that the worst recession since the Great Depression may be easing. Oil prices also have rallied sharply in recent weeks.

There also are plenty of signs that any economic recovery will not be smooth.

Construction spending dipped slightly in November, and the number of people preparing to buy a home in November fell sharply. That’s leading some to fear a double-dip in the housing market, which could hinder any recovery.

For most people, however, it will not feel like the nation is in an economy recovery until more Americans are back at work. That could take months, or even years.

“Unfortunately, the labor market is one of the last parts of the economy turn around in a recovery,” Di Natale said.

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