For the first time in five months, 41 states added jobs in October.  Although the number of employees increased, the unemployment rate wasn’t pushed down because more people began looking for work again.

In Nevada, the state with the highest unemployment rate, the jobless rate fell for the first time in four years, but so did the total number of jobs.  The decline in the jobless rate can be attributed to people giving up on their job search and to a shrinking job market as some 70,000 people have left the state since 2009.  Tourism has started to edge upward in the Silver State, but airport traffic is still down indicating that the tourism increase is due to drive in traffic, which typically spends less money per visit.  There are other hopeful signs however, with airlines making cautious increasesto incoming capacity in Las Vegas over the next year.

Michigan also reported modest improvements to its unemployment rate, falling below 13% for the first time in a year and a half. 

Perhaps the best news comes out of California and Florida, which have the 3rd and 4th highest unemployment rates.  Both states saw modest gains in total jobs, although jobless rates remained flat as more people returned to the job market.  California added 39,000 much needed jobs and Florida gained 35,700.