Las Vegas Economy is Scary

The Las Vegas economy is showing signs of further deterioration, as unemployment continues to climb.

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.

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've given up the job hunt completely. 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.

Tourism is also down, as airport officials say the 3.3 million passengers traveling through McCarran International Airport last month was a 1.2 percent decline.

The Clark County Aviation Department says 30.6 million passengers used the airport from January through September.

U.S. Airways had the biggest decline among carriers, at 26.4 percent.

Southwest Airlines, known for their discounted airfares, carried 4.8 percent more passengers in September than the same month last year.

Many economists feel that the significant improvement nationally will have to occur before the Las Vegas economy can turn things around.