Douglas unemployment back at peak 15 percent in April

Douglas County unemployment numbers rose back up to it's peak of 15 percent in April, according to figures released Friday by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

The county's labor force was up 80 to 22,670, but still 120 workers short of where it began the year. Unemployment was up 60 people to 3,400, but total employment was up 20 people over March. That is the first increase in the number of people employed in the county so far this year.

Douglas' unemployment rate is the fourth highest in the state. Lyon County continues to have the highest unemployment numbers with 19.1 percent of its job force out of work, followed by Mineral County with 16.4 percent and Nye County at 15.8 percent.

Statewide, unemployment broke another record, hitting 13.7 percent. Las Vegas' jobless rate hit 14.2 percent. The rate remains well above the national rate of 9.9 percent.

"While the consensus may be that the recession is nearing the end, employment has not begun to show any signs of real improvement," Chief Economist William Anderson said. "News on the employment front remains unsettling, especially for those still struggling to find work in this down economy."

Anderson said the public sector, especially local government is seeing large decreases in employment.

"Despite numerous wage concessions and other cutbacks, many local governments are being forced to lay off employees. In the last year local government employers shed 5,500 jobs. Local government employment slid by 1,000 in April alone. Job losses will likely increase in the coming months as municipalities adjust to lower budgets set to being July 1," Anderson said.

Construction unemployment, which hit hard both in Douglas and Lyon counties, has fallen to its lowest level since April 1995. Since the height of the housing boom in June 2006, when 148,800 workers were employed more than 86,000 construction jobs have been lost.