The new numbers from the Nevada Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation are in, and the data shows that the state’s unemployment rate crept above the “full employment” level of 5 percent to 5.1 percent in September. That is up a full percentage point from September of 2006 when the rate was 4.1 percent. The rate also remains above the national average of 4.7 percent.

Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Department, Training & Rehabilitation, said that the jump in unemployment is due in large part to the continued workforce migration to Nevada. “The labor force grew by more than 17,000 in September, and again the state’s slowing
economy could not absorb all of the new workers,” Anderson said in a press release issued today.

The unemployment rate in Clark County actually surpassed the state’s average, rising to 5.2 percent in September. The housing slump and loss of related jobs was a major factor in the rise of the unemployment rate.

Normally, Labor Day signals the end to the summer driving season and consequentially gas prices tend to fall. But not this year. AAA reports that the average price in Nevada for regular, unleaded gasoline is now $2.92, a 13-cent increase from their last survey on September 11. But people living in southern Nevada should take solace in the fact that while our average price is $2.81 a gallon, our neighbors to the north in Reno are paying an average of $3.12 per gallon, a 27-cent increase from last month. The national average is actually down 3 cents from last month.

SalesTraq reported the median price for new homes in the valley in August was $309,241, 13 percent below its peak in April 2006. The median existing-home price was $270,000 in August, down 6.8 percent from its June 2006 peak.

The prices of new and existing homes have been steadily dropping in Las Vegas since mid-2006 and likely will continue to plummet.

That’s according to several professional traders and national economists monitoring the valley’s real estate market. Futures contracts on the housing market that trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange indicate Las Vegas is sliding toward the country’s largest price decline. Some are predicting as much as a 20-percent drop in home prices by 2010.

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