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EMPLOYMENT: Nevada job loss continues

Boom-period construction gains vanish, statistics show

The last time construction employment was this low in Nevada, MGM Mirage didn't exist, Bellagio and The Venetian weren't open and the Las Vegas Beltway went from Pecos Road to Interstate 15.

From a jobs standpoint, it's almost as if the economic heyday of the late 1990s and early 2000s never happened. (Was Bobby Ewing in your shower this morning telling you it was all a dream? And if you don't know what we're talking about, then you weren't around either the last time construction employment was so low.)


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  • Nevada has given back all of its boom-era construction jobs and then some, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported Monday. The department's latest data show records of 13.3 percent joblessness statewide and 13.9 percent in Las Vegas in September, and the building sector leads the way in job loss. Contractors added 48,000 jobs statewide from 1997 to 2007, and they've shed 50,000 positions since the recession began in December 2007.

    The leisure sector, at least, managed to hang on to more than half of its long-term job formation: Hospitality operators created 77,300 jobs from 1997 to 2007, and have cut 30,000 posts in the last two years. Year over year in September, the number of jobs in all categories fell by 76,500 statewide.

    But Monday's news brought signs of life as well.

    The 0.1 percentage-point gain in statewide joblessness was the smallest increase since March. Also, Nevada's employers added 11,000 jobs overall from August to September, for the best growth numbers since February 2007. Sectors that grew month-over-month include government, which added 9,800 jobs thanks partly to the start of a new school year, and professional business services such as accounting and law, which grew by 2,800 jobs.

    Still, sectors including manufacturing, construction, hospitality and information technology continued to drop jobs from August to September. The number of unemployed reached 190,700 statewide and 141,000 in Las Vegas in September, and the state has lost so many jobs in recent years that even stabilization will mean sustained hard times for many residents.

    "For the foreseeable future, we're going to be struggling," said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the employment department. "We do have a lot of ground to make up. Given the fact that we're looking only for modest improvement in the economy once recovery does take hold, it's going to take a long time to get back to where we were."

    Anderson added that he'd need to see at least two more straight months' worth of improvements in hiring and declines in job loss before he could conclude more firmly that the recession hit bottom.

    Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he won't try to pin down a time frame on recovery here until he sees stronger indications that consumers nationwide have more dollars to spend on travel and tourism.

    "We're going to have to see noticeable improvement nationally before we can feel comfortable about gains in Nevada," Schwer said.

    State economists expect joblessness to peak at 14.8 percent in 2010. That projection doesn't include part-timers seeking full-time jobs and discouraged workers who have given up the job hunt.

    The employment department doesn't have recent estimates of how many underemployed and discouraged residents live in the state, but Anderson said research shows that including such citizens would push up unemployment by 75 percent, for an overall jobless rate of more than 23 percent. Nationally, the jobless rate of 9.8 percent climbs to 17 percent when the Bureau of Labor Statistics includes underemployed and discouraged workers in its calculations.

    Unemployment in Nevada and Las Vegas have nearly doubled from their levels a year ago. Joblessness in September 2008 was 7.3 percent in Nevada and 7.7 percent in Las Vegas.

    Anderson said CityCenter's December opening should help ease job losses and boost Southern Nevadans' morale in coming months, but the outlook for the leisure and hospitality sector has more negatives than positives, he noted. Visitor volume in Las Vegas continues to fall and discretionary income remains constrained nationwide.

    "You have to keep in mind the broader economy in which we're operating, and those economic fundamentals are not favorable to hospitality," Anderson said.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., released a statement calling the new jobless numbers "troubling." He added that Congress should immediately extend unemployment insurance, and he said the Silver State might not have taken full advantage of economic-recovery money available for job formation.

    Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.

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    douglas wrote on October 20, 2009 11:10 PM: obvious examples of the present economic swamp engendered by leftist/liberals...

    consumer and gubmit massive overspending beyond their incomes. that's liberal not conservative by definition.

    exportation of liberal lifestyles which is the rallying flag for *conservative* fundamentalist, islamic terrorists. spent some time in no. afghanistan [when the russians "had influence" in the kabul gubmit], midst some very serious, lads. their hatred of the west, the u.s., was that our liberal lifestyle was contaminating their culture. way beyond levi jeans and rock and roll music. the u.s. leftists spin that hatred, that "jihad", as being from israeli statehood. that's patently foolish.

    at the local level, unemployment is massively impacted by the leftist/liberals winking at the illegal infiltrator invasion. same with the overcrowded schools, prisons, over sucked dry "welfare programs, hospital deficits. each time some conservatives request a strict enforcement of immigration laws, the leftists spin the issue to some "racial" issue, not to its essence, that of criminal activity.

    coolest spin from the leftist/liberal saps is the issue of drug manufacture/distribution/consumption. they call the sale and use "victimless crimes". that's beyond hilarious were it not for the way too often murders/robberies/gang activity directly involving drug use.

    those are but a few examples of the "benefits" of liberalism/leftist agenda.




    Joe wrote on October 20, 2009 09:21 PM: If they want more jobs in Vegas, build more casinos!!!


    Donofrio wrote on October 20, 2009 05:16 PM: MORE HARRY REID. HE IS SUCCEEDING IN THIS GLORIOUS STATE! Sure...

    Stacy - you are an absolute idiot. You know nothing but socialist hyperbole. You can regurgitate, but I bet you can't swallow, unless it's big ol' Obama. It's idiots like you that can vote that screwed up this country, along with lobbyists and term limits that support entitlement. Get rid of Stacy, lobbyists and three term or more senators and we can correct this socialist slide.


    Carmelle wrote on October 20, 2009 05:12 PM: I moved to the East Coast to revive my real estate career during the day and found a part-time job at Walmart at night. I also am using http://spacyber.tripod.com/id22.html to get job listings to find a higher paying job. you just have to get creative/innovative to survive these days.


    Thanks Reid, just what we need... you moron! wrote on October 20, 2009 05:07 PM: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., released a statement calling the new jobless numbers "troubling." He added that Congress should immediately extend unemployment insurance,..."

    Congress should NOT extend UI, Congress should get off its big fat Democratic *ss and start funneling money to small businesses that create the new jobs. The nerve of this idiot. Congress should remove the biggest impediment to economic growth, the wage tax. Abolish this immoral tax, so families can provide for themselves. Cutting and removing all these Democrat taxes would certainly help us little people. Congress should stop the insane spending. Idiots and fools we have in Congress and that moron we've got for a so-called "President" if he was even born in America... certainly doesn't understand America or Americans.


    Real american wrote on October 20, 2009 04:56 PM: Left wing socialists blame bush for thier own trainwreck policies. Stacy and Sam have shown themselves to be utter fools and morons.

    Real Change in 2012!!!! Throw the socialist Dems out of office!!!


    Stacy Allsbrook wrote on October 20, 2009 04:10 PM: What is "douglas" talking about (why wouldn't you capitalize your own first name??). The "obvious roots of the current economic swamp are the leftist-liberal agenda slowly infecting the country." The only roots are with the marriage made in hell "douglas" ... that marriage is between the religious right and Wall Street. Long ago they made a deal with each other. Wall Street/Big Corporate Interest wants no regulation the fanatical religious right wants no abortion at all ever and prayer in school. It is that simple. The two groups linked arms and brainwashed America ... and they have been doing so since the mid to late 1970s. Bush was their golden boy and look what he did. He delivered in spades. He started a holy war against Islam and he and the republican congress did as much deregulating of Wall Street as they possibly could. Look at the result. You can try to revise history in your own little fantasy world ... but "douglas" your completely wrong. None of your jailhouse lawyer speak is going to make you right. Get a life and read a book other than the 700 Club book of the month.


    Sam Dunnam wrote on October 20, 2009 04:04 PM: Douglas is a d ouchbag ... your an idiot. What the hell are you talking about? Another senior citizen jailhouse lawyer who thinks they have anything regarding a clue. Its "R"-tards like you who elected Dub ... now your griping about the "leftist liberals" ... what? YOU and idiotic pawns just like you ... put us in this possition. You elect jackholes like McCant who hand the keys to the treasury to the greedy Wall Street set via zero regulation. Look what that gets us you idiot. You'll never get it and neither will 200 million gap toothed trailer trash. This country is doomed and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Wal-Mart has won as have the dillrods like "Douglas."


    Sam Maestro wrote on October 20, 2009 04:00 PM: "State economists expect joblessness to peak at 14.8 percent in 2010." What magic phenomena is going to end the recession and start creating new jobs in this state or anywhere?? If the "state economists" have a crystal ball that somehow reveals an economic turnaround based on ... what exactly?? What is going to drive the economy in a positive direction? Americans aren't wracking up endless credit card debt to buy mountains of things they don't need anymore. There is no dot.com explosion ... no nation wide ponzi scheme being perpetrated by the banks and Wall Street ... what exactly is going to turn everything around and put people back to work in 2010?? What an empty prediction. Economists are flying in the dark. Our nation has never had a recession like this in modern times, they can not predict anything with any degree of accuracy. Common sense would lead one to believe that until something occurs to drive the economy in a big way towards positive job growth nothing is going to get better and more and more people will be without jobs.


    douglas wrote on October 20, 2009 12:02 PM: the obvious roots of the current economic swamp are the leftist-liberal agenda slowly infecting the country. to "change" the tail spinning economy, a radical leftist is now in the white house. kinda like "the hair of of the dog that bit you".

    even a public school "graduate" should realize that a lush can't drink its way to sobriety. and an individual or business can't get out of bankruptcy by writing more bad checks.


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