The Las Vegas Perspective was held on Wednesday. Jeremy Aguero from Applied Analysis spoke about the Las Vegas economy. He presented for those that looked at the economy as the “glass is half empty,” and for those that looked at it as the ”glass is half full.” What a difference the presentation of numbers can make!!
Anyway, I took away two key findings:
- The Las Vegas economy is fueled by two key industries: Gaming and Construction. Gaming makes up between 19-20 percent of the gross employee base and construction about the same. Together, 39% of all jobs in Las Vegas are in these two industries. (The ‘half empty glass’ audience would also state that each one of those jobs creates a job outside of their industry, so really - 80% of the jobs are reliant on these two industries)
- CityCenter is the largest construction project ever in Nevada’s history. There are 8,500 construction workers on site right now. Regardless of whether CityCenter puts construction on hold in the upcoming months (glass half empty group) or completes the project in December (glass half full group) - We will lose 8,500 construction jobs in Las Vegas.
This was an eye-opener.
However you look at it - 8,500 construction jobs will go away in the next 9 months. If you are a pessimist or an optimist, this fact remains. Typically these workers would just jump to the next construction project in Las Vegas. The problem is….. there are new construction projects in the pipeline right now.
{ 0 comments… add one now }