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Elko County may be shaking off the Great Recession according to all three major reports on the county’s economy.
According to the Department of Taxation Elko sales boomed in January a whopping 29 percent above last years numbers. And according to the the state department of labor the county’s unemployment rate fell from 9.0 percent to 7.7 while the number of jobs increase from 25,400 to 25,700.
Those two reports along with January’s positive gaming win results indicate that the mining fueled Elko County economy may be emerging from the three year long Great Recession.
But Elko recovery back to economic health is not uniform and with Nevada still stuck firmly in neutral insignificant for the Silver State as a whole.
West Wendover appears to be left out of the return to economic health. While january gaming win numbers showed the county up by two percent Wendover clubs reported an almost 4.0 percent drop in gaming win. Clubs in the rest of the county reported a 14.2 percent gain.
While Nevada’s unemployment rate did fall in January, the decline was mostly due to people giving up on finding work or leaving the state rather than an increase in the number of jobs.
Statewide unemployment numbers dropped as a result of unemployed workers moving outside the state to seek jobs.
The unemployment rate in the Las Vegas-Paradise area fell from 15.1 percent in December to 13.7 percent in January. In the Reno-Sparks area, the unemployment rate fell from 13.8 percent to 13.3 percent. In the Carson City region, the unemployment rate fell from 14.0 percent to 13.6 percent. In the Elko area (includes Elko and Eureka Counties), the unemployment rate declined by two tenths, falling from 7.8 to 7.6 percent in January.
“Unfortunately, the decrease was not driven by significant improvement in the labor market” said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. “It appears likely that some jobless Nevadans are becoming discouraged and giving up their search for work and dropping out of the labor force. In addition, given stagnant population levels, it is also likely that some Nevadans are leaving the state.”
Anderson said immediate improvement does not appear likely.
“The recent surge in gas prices will undoubtedly affect travel to Nevada and continued pressure on government payrolls will likely offset any near term improvement in private sector hiring,” he said. “It appears Nevada will continue to move sideways, bouncing along the trough of this recession for the foreseeable future.”
