A precipitous decline in new home sales in Southern Nevada is contributing, experts say, to a loss of construction jobs, which fell statewide by 4,400 in August, according to the Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation. Construction jobs are off 6.9% statewide for the year, according to David Schmidt, chief economist for DETR.

The top three occupations filing unemployment claims i n August, “without a doubt, were construction laborers, carpenters and electricians – the sorts of jobs that we see with home construction,” said Schmidt in an interview Monday. “As we’ve seen this slowdown in the housing market, I do think that is being reflected in both our unemployment claims data and the slides we’ve seen in construction employment so far this year.”

Nevada construction “c

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