Las Vegas adds 7K jobs amid ‘steady gains’ in labor market

Las Vegas employers added thousands of jobs last month as Nevada’s labor market keeps showing “steady gains,” state officials reported Thursday.

Employment in the Las Vegas area rose by 7,000 jobs, or 0.6 percent, from July to August, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Compared with a year earlier, employment locally was up by 14,200 jobs, or 1.2 percent.

DETR Chief Economist David Schmidt said in the report that the new data “continues to indicate steady gains in Nevada’s labor market,” and that job growth accelerated slightly, “with gains spread across multiple industries.”

Plus, he said that Nevada’s jobless rate last month, 4.8 percent, was below 5 percent for the first time since February 2020 — the month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut off much of the economy overnight and sent Nevada’s jobless rate skyrocketing.

In April 2020, the first full month of the pandemic shutdowns, Nevada’s unemployment rate was just over 30 percent.

Schmidt said that Nevada’s jobless rate ticked lower last month amid a decline in labor-force participation, referring to the share of people who are working or actively seeking work. But, he added, this gauge of the labor market is still one percentage point above the national average.

With the bulk of the state’s population, the Las Vegas Valley relies heavily on visitors traveling here to spend big eating, drinking, gambling, partying and going to shows and conventions to fuel the local economy.

Locally and nationally, personal finances have been squeezed this year by higher gas prices and elevated inflation. But overall, visitor volume to America’s casino capital has leveled off following a noticeable decline last year.

Around 22.8 million people visited Las Vegas this year through July, up 0.5 percent from the same seven-month stretch last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Casinos are also pulling in more cash.

The Las Vegas Strip generated about $5.3 billion in gambling revenue this year through July, up 3.2 percent from the same period last year, the LVCVA reported.