Nevada’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.3% in September, the lowest the rate has been since December 2008, and two percentage points below the rate in August, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR).

About one hundred jobs were added in the construction industry during the month, although the seasonally-adjusted total of jobs in the industry fell by 2,400 (or 4.4%) from September 2012 to September 2013.

In addition, DETR’s Nevada Labor Market Briefing for September 2013 contained a description of Residential Construction and Real Estate Activity:

• Nevada housing starts are up nearly 40% from a year ago through August.
• Resale prices in Southern Nevada have increased relative to a year ago in each of the past 18 months.  Gains have been 25%+ in each of the past ten months.  New home prices are also on the mend…up 12 straight months with five consecutive months of 30%+ gains.
• Resale activity in Southern Nevada is trending down as inventories have been constrained.  September brought with it the 14th consecutive year-over-year decline in resales.
• Southern Nevada new home closings have risen sharply of late, and stand more than 50% higher than year-ago readings so far in 2013.  Permit activity has also strengthened, suggesting continued improvement.

This month, for the first time, DETR released its Monthly Assessment of Labor Market and Economic Conditions in Nevada in video form.

http://vimeo.com/78196427

Some highlights from the video:

“A broad view of economic conditions in Nevada suggests that most indicators are pointing in a positive direction.”

“On the construction front, both starts and prices have been trending about 20-30% higher than where we were in 2012.”

“Perhaps the most encouraging information available in this month’s report is Nevada’s steady climb up the job-growth rankings.  Job gains prior to the recession in Nevada were the strongest in the nation. The reverse was true during the recession as the labor market here in Nevada was harder hit than any other state in the nation. However, that began to reverse itself in 2011 when our job gains exceeded those in 14 other states. In 2012, we grew faster than 24 other states and in 2013, at least through the first several months of the year, we’ve exceeded the growth rates in 34 other states.”

“Even the hard-hit construction sector is expected to be home to 15,500 more jobs in 2015 than we had in 2012.”