Nevada unemployment rate drops below 7 percent

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s unemployment rate has dropped below 7 percent.

The state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Wednesday that Nevada’s jobless rate dropped to 6.9 percent in June.

That number is down from the 7 percent recorded in May, which was the second highest unemployment rate in the country only behind West Virginia’s 7.2 percent that month.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said the June number is the first time Nevada hit below 7 percent since July 2008, before the worst of the recession seven years ago.

This is welcomed news after the Nevada unemployment rate saw a plateau earlier this year.

It held at 7.1 percent between January and April, following its first month-over-month increase in more than four years as recorded between December 2014 and January 2015.