The Silver State’s economic recovery continued into April 2021 as many key indicators retained the positive momentum from the month before as COVID-19 infections eased, vaccination totals climbed and the state moved closer to 100 percent reopening.

Nevada’s labor market continued to recover in April by adding jobs for a third consecutive month. Statewide employment grew 1.3 percent by adding 17,100 positions over the month, the highest one-month gain since September 2020 in both nominal and percentage terms. The largest gains were realized by the leisure and hospitality sector, which grew by 4,600 jobs over the month, with the majority of the positions being in accommodation and food services. On an annual basis, April marked the first month since the pandemic that the job growth rate was in positive territory. However, it should be noted that the annual growth rate of 17.7 percent is a result of the significant job losses in April 2020 as the pandemic and related response triggered business closures and operational limitations. The monthly job growth trend in April 2021 did help the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dip from 8.1 percent to 8.0 percent.

On a regional level, Southern Nevada accounted for the majority of statewide job gains, adding 13,800 positions over the month. In a sign of rapidly recovering tourism activity in the region, the leisure and hospitality industry’s 8,700 new positions accounted for the vast majority of job gains. Overall employment in the region has recovered 56.3 percent of pandemic-related job losses to reach 929,700, 11.4 percent below pre-pandemic levels and equivalent to employment totals in early 2016. In Northern Nevada, employment grew 0.9 percent to 243,400 jobs, 1.9 percent lower than the pre-pandemic level as the region has recovered 86.6 percent of its lost jobs.

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