Business

As we grapple with challenges, fears and frustrations sourced to COVID-19, it is easy to overlook the tireless efforts and countless acts of selflessness that are keeping our community off the mat. Despite obstacles and uncertainty, so many have stepped up during this unsettling time. I believe we owe them a debt of gratitude. To […]

Over the past century, Las Vegas has transformed from a dusty railroad town into the world’s premier tourism and convention destination. That growth, however, has not been linear. The region’s economy has experienced countless ups and downs that commonly mirrored the nation’s trajectory, each time rising to greater economic heights. Yet there has been no […]

While as a state and nation we reopen our economy on the long path to recovery, we face the everyday reality of a changed world. At our workplaces, the grocery store, restaurants and schools, the signs of change are all around us – constant reminders that COVID-19 remains a public health threat that can’t be […]

Being a Las Vegan is a special thing. It means you live in the most exciting city on Earth, drawing over 40 million visitors a year to experience for a weekend what we are blessed to enjoy every day. It means living in a city that is constantly pushing itself forward, reinventing itself, and doing […]

COVID-19 continues to expand around the globe, and Nevada, like almost everywhere else, remains under virtual lock and key in an effort to limit the spread of the potentially deadly virus. Thankfully, the vast majority of Nevada residents and businesses have heeded Governor Sisolak’s orders to limit nonessential trips over the past month, and one […]

The never-ending news cycle surrounding the coronavirus outbreak has been daunting and overwhelming. The gravity of the situation changes every day, sometimes every hour, compounding the sense of vulnerability and uncertainty that has gripped the world amid the growing public health threat. It is certainly easy to be overcome by the sense of unease. At […]

Southern Nevada is in the midst of a major sports revolution. With the Las Vegas Raiders moving into Allegiant Stadium later this year, 2020 will mark a milestone in the regional sports landscape that began its transformation with the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights just three years ago. Those headliners of professional sports are […]

The road to 2020 hasn’t been the easiest for Southern Nevada. We’ve endured our share of speed bumps and pot holes along the way, but as the new decade begins, our region is riding a wave of momentum that has it poised for one of its best years ever, while setting it up for success […]

There are few things more important to a community than public safety. Obviously, we all want to feel safe; but beyond the intrinsic value of well-being and improved quality of life, there are broader economic and fiscal impacts to public safety. It doesn’t take empirical research to prove that people tend to move out of […]

Our nation’s economy has grown for 125 consecutive months, the longest expansion in United States history. This Great Expansion, however, has been tepid. It is not only the nation’s longest expansion; it is also its slowest. This has led to a fair amount of skepticism relative to the sustainability of our current growth trend. Experts […]

Clark County is home to 56,000 businesses, more than 86 percent of which (42,300) have fewer than 20 employees. By contrast, less than 0.7 percent of all businesses (384) have 250 or more employees. There are those who contend the relationship between big businesses and small business is inherently adversarial, with large businesses using economies […]

Among the best professors I ever had was Vince Eade. Professor emeritus since 2014, Professor Eade taught courses in human resources management, employee training and development and leadership at UNLV for nearly three decades. I learned many lessons from him, the most important being the simple axiom that employees are the most important resource of […]

  Consumer expenditures—the amount spent by households on goods and services—account for 68 percent of our country’s gross domestic product. Consumers spent $14.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2019, the highest level ever reported. Not only are we spending more than at any point in history, we are also spending differently. Consumers spend about […]

For 20 million visitors each year, the Las Vegas experience doesn’t start in a hotel lobby; it starts at a gate at McCarran International Airport. As the gateway to Southern Nevada for nearly half of our annual visitors, McCarran has become perhaps the single most important component of the region’s thriving tourism economy. Today, the […]

There is no shortage of positive news for Nevada’s economy these days, which is certainly more than welcome, given where the state’s economic fortunes sat not all that long ago. Statewide annual employment growth is first in the nation, a spot Nevada has held for seven consecutive months, and for 19 of the past 36 […]

The heart of L a s Vegas ’ success is an entrepreneurial spirit—we see new markets and seize them; we see opportunities to do things bigger and better and take the risk that others dare not.  Today, cranes, steel, glass and lights adorn the Las Vegas skyline. The more than $20 billion in mega-projects garner […]

Tesla’s move into Nevada was predicated on promises. The promise to invest $5 billion in a first-of-its-kind advanced manufacturing facility. The promise to create 6,500 new jobs in a state that desperately needed them. The promise of jump-starting a new era of economic development that was driven by technology and innovation. Today, more than four […]

For the uninitiated, the legal system can be stressful, intimidating and confusing. Thankfully, for most of us, a trip to the courtroom is a rare occurrence, and we can rely on the network of trained and experienced lawyers in Southern Nevada to shepherd us through the legal labyrinth. But for hundreds of thousands of our […]

The typical worker holds 12 jobs between the ages of 18 and 50. And, while there is some evidence that this number is rising, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that an average worker has been at their current job for 5.0 years, only slightly lower than the 5.1 years reported in 2008. Moreover, in 2018, 33 percent of workers reported having […]

Earlier this month, the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation issued a press release reporting that initial unemployment insurance claims fell to a record low of 11,950 in December. Initial claims data represent the number of people filing for employment benefits for the first time—a general indicator of how the economy is performing. The […]

The Boyd School of Law opened in 1998, but the path to its creation began nearly three decades earlier with a feasibility study in 1972. No proposal moved forward at the time, and two more feasibility studies would come and go by the mid-1990s, when Nevada and Alaska remained the only states without an accredited law school within their borders. We […]

Governor Brian Sandoval became Nevada’s 29th Governor on January 3, 2011. After eight years in office, the Sandoval era will come to an end when Governor-elect Steve Sisolak is inaugurated on January 7, 2019—a transition that will inevitably be accompanied by a debate over the Governor’s legacy. From an economic perspective, this debate should be brief and one-sided, as Brian Sandoval rightly takes […]

More than 60 years ago, the resorts along the dusty two-lane Las Vegas Strip had a problem. Business was booming during the warm summer weekends, but during mid-week and off-season periods, the number of hotel rooms far outnumbered the guests. Seeking to boost visitor counts during these slow times, a group of civic and business leaders developed a plan to publicly finance […]

The stream of positive economic news continues to be steady, and welcome. In May of 2018, the current U.S. economic expansion became the second-longest on record, and Nevada’s growth is among the best in the nation. The state’s unemployment rate is falling. Its incomes are rising. Its population is booming, and its home prices are […]

School is back in session across Southern Nevada, and students are headed back to campus to greet new teachers, meet new friends and face new academic challenges. Too often, the dialogue around our public schools focuses on the challenges incumbent in educating a diverse population of 324,000 students in the nation’s fifth-largest school district, neglecting the notable successes of the schools, students […]

A resurgence of the local housing market has led to some mixed emotions for Southern Nevada residents. Higher prices translate into more equity for homeowners. In fact, every 1 percent increase in housing prices translates into $1.2 billion in new or recovered equity for the valley’s single-family residential homeowners. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s most recent report, the Las Vegas metropolitan […]

  When tickets for “Hamilton” went on sale in April, hundreds of people lined up around The Smith Center for the Performing Arts for the chance to see the smash-hit Broadway musical. Within hours, most of the 63,000 tickets for the four-week run were sold out. The runaway success of “Hamilton” in Southern Nevada is […]

I am generally of the belief that there are two groups of people in the world: those who are building robots and those who are being replaced by them. Autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI), and what is commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing the way we live and the way we […]