Jobless rate falls, but Nevada still most unemployed state in October - for 6th consecutive month

While Nevada and other U.S. states' and regions' unemployment rates dropped in October, the Silver State still has the dubious ranking as number one in unemployment per capita in the country.

It was the sixth consecutive month the state led unemployment among in the United States. The states with the next highest jobless rates were Michigan, at 12.8%, and California, 12.4%, The New York Times reported.

And another national publication has recognized the difficulty of finding work in Sin City. Forbes.com has ranked Las Vegas the worst U.S. city for finding a job.

The hiring environment may be improving, but job seekers in cities that rely on strong economy-reliant industries should know that they may each be competing with six, seven or eight other idle workers for one advertised job, Forbes.com reported.

In arriving at its rankings, Forbes relied on figures from Juju.com, a site that aggregates job listings to arrive at its monthly Job Search Difficulty Index, which measures how tough it is to find employment in 50 major cities around the country.

"The cities that have continued to underperform rely on jobs from lagging industries such as manufacturing, tourism and construction," Juju vice president Brendan Cruickshank told Forbes.com. "Detroit and Las Vegas have improved from this time last year, but they continue have more unemployed individuals per open job than other large metropolitan areas."

Sunbelt cities like Las Vegas dominate the list of the most difficult metro areas for finding a job. Large metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, Miami and New Orleans continue to suffer as their tourism remains weak.

Although things are still tough in some areas, nationally things have improved, according to the report. "If you look back to November 2009, the average number of unemployed people per job posting was 6.5. This year it is 3.19," Cruickshank said. "This indicates that the market has gotten significantly better."

Related articles

• Nevada Retains Highest Unemployment Rate (economix.blogs.nytimes.com)
• America's Worst Cities For Finding A Job (forbes.com)
• 41 states see job gains in October, most in 5 months (usatoday.com)
• Nevada's Unemployment Rate Falls for First Time in Five Years (job-search-torture.blogspot.com)
• Jobless claims down: A new declining trend? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Oops, it did it again: Las Vegas Tops in the Country in Unemployment (job-search-torture.blogspot.com)