Nevada unemployment surges to 6.2 percent in May

State officials say Nevada's unemployment rate surged a half-percent from April to May, to the highest it's been since May 1994.

Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation figures put the state jobless rate at 6.2 percent, well above the national figure of 5.5 percent.

Chief state economist Bill Anderson says the Nevada economy is reeling under the combined effects of the housing slump and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Compared with a year ago, he says industrial job growth was down 0.7 percent; unemployment rates were up nearly 2 percent in Nevada's three metropolitan areas; auto traffic to Las Vegas and Reno was down; and airline passenger counts were down.

But Anderson says a big reason for the May jobless increase is the inability of employers to absorb a seasonal surge in people looking for jobs.