The state of Nevada posted record job numbers last month that show several key industries have risen above their pre-pandemic employment levels.
The record of 1,452,600 jobs was 3,000 more than the previous peak in February 2020. Nevada added 7,600 jobs last month.
The employment numbers were announced Friday by Gov. Steve Sisolak, who said in a statement the state had recovered “all of the jobs that were lost during the COVID pandemic, and doing so in a way that has more Nevadans working in better-paying jobs than before the pandemic.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the state’s leisure and hospitality sector, which includes casinos, is still lagging behind at 90.7 percent of its pre-pandemic peak. But other industries have risen above their previous peaks to pull the rest of the state up.
Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Chief Economist David Schmidt Schmidt said the good news from this trend was that the industries at about their peaks tend to pay wages above the state average.
However, the leisure and hospitality sector is still looking to recover 33,800 jobs from its peak in February 2020. In particular, the hotel and casino subsector is only at 80 percent of its peak, Schmidt said.
Culinary Local 226 said there are still about 10,000 union members who were laid off during the pandemic who have not been called back to work.
Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer for the Culinary union, said contracts for 50,000 workers expire next June, and “we need to start getting ready right now!”
Nevada’s unemployment rate fell, but remains one of the worst in the country.
Elizabeth Ray, a spokeswoman for Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the Republican nominee for governor who is facing Sisolak in the fall, said Sisolak was painting a rosy picture of the economy.
“While Steve Sisolak continues to try to brag about his ‘economic record,’ most Nevada families are struggling to afford gas, rent and groceries,” she said in a statement.