Nevada saw a 2.2 percent increase in manufacturing employment in the past year, according to the 2013 Nevada Manufacturers Directory, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc. in Evanston, Ill.

With this gain, Nevada added 1,233 industrial jobs and now accounts for 1,813 manufacturers and 56,188 workers. This represents the first gain in Nevada since 2007, MNI reveals.

"Nevada continues to see its manufacturing sector improve," says Tom Dubin, president of MNI. "Although the state's industrial sector still suffers from the ailing housing industry, it maintains a winning mix of low business costs and abundant natural resources."

Of Nevada’s industrial sectors, metal mining is the largest with 6,977 more jobs, an increase of 10.2 percent, MNI finds. Second-ranked printing and publishing employs 5,375 workers, a decline of 4.9 percent, followed by fabricated metals with 5,122 jobs, a decrease of 10 percent.

Nevada’s industrial sectors that added jobs are electronics at 16 percent, furniture and fixtures at 7.9 percent, chemicals at 7.9 percent, industrial machinery and equipment at 7.5 percent, and paper products at 2.4 percent, MNI finds. Among the industrial sectors with losses are lumber and wood at minus 31 percent, primary metals at minus 18 percent, textiles and apparel at minus 4.9 percent, rubber and plastics at minus 3.3 percent, and transportation equipment at minus 2.7 percent.

The Nevada city with the most industrial employment is Las Vegas with 17,008 jobs, a drop of 1.6 percent, while Reno comes in second with 9,080 jobs, a gain of 2.2 percent, MNI finds. Sparks has 4,670 jobs, marking a 7 percent increase, and Henderson is home to 4,084 jobs, up 3.7 percent. North Las Vegas employs 3,553 workers for no significant change.