The number of unemployed workers in Nevada closed in on the 100,000 mark in July. There are currently 94,900 people unemployed compared to 67,700 this time last year, according to a report issued by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. The mood in the employment market has turned more pessimistic recently, with the delay of several construction projects, including the freeze of the Echelon project. The one bright spot is the fact that the number of existing home sales have increased over the past six months.

The state’s unemployment rate continued to pull away from the national rate in June, which remained at 5.5 percent, according to a report released today by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation.

The unemployment rate in Las Vegas Valley was a bit higher than the state’s average, standing at 6.5%. The area shed 6,200 jobs in June and for the first time since 2002, year-over-year growth declined for four consecutive months.

Two factors were cited as reasons for the increase in the rate. They included recent disappointing gaming revenue, and more people re-entering the workforce in order to cope with rising prices of things like fuel and food.

The only sliver lining in today’s report - make that gold lining - was that in mining areas, such as Elko and White Pine counties, the unemployment rate remained below 5 percent thanks to the fact that gold prices remain near their historic highs.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported that the year’s trend of increasing home sales combined with falling prices continued in April. Again, to no one’s surprise, the driver of these trends is the fact that more than half of all homes sold last month were either bank-owned or short sales. The median price of a single family home fell 3 percent from March to April, and is down a whopping 22.7 percent from April of 2007.

Nevada’s employment rate stood 0.6 percent higher than the national average and a full point higher than January of 2007. The numbers, which were released in the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s monthly employment report, showed that areas outside of Las Vegas were particularly hard hit. The unemployment rate in the Reno-Sparks area shot up to 6.6 percent, and to 7.5 percent in Carson City.

As expected, the construction sector took another beating, losing 4,600 jobs, falling behind retail, which lost 4,700 jobs after the holiday shopping season. Government jobs were hardest hit, with 5,700 fewer state workers in January.

It seems that the Strip, while not completely immune, is doing its best to weather the current economic downturn, according the a report released today by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.  Impacting the numbers was a decrease in the number of rooms available to fill, due in part to the closing of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. Overall, Las Vegas January visitor volume fell by 0.6-percent. This modest decrease came despite the fact that convention attendance was down over 100,000 people, or -13.1 percent.

Gaming revenue on the strip was down by about $8 million, and was down 4.1-percent for Clark County as a whole. The county-wide visitor numbers were dragged down by softness in Boulder City, Laughlin and Mesquite. However, there was one bright spot for casino operators in Mesquite, as although visitor volume wasd down 5.4 percent, those who did make the trip appeared to spend more per-capita. The city’s gross gaming revenue rose 25.9-percent to just over $13 million.