The jobs outlook

As much as northern Nevadans would like to see an end to high unemployment, relief won't come this year.

The Nevada Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation projects an almost 6 percent decline in jobs this year over 2009 and a 2 percent year-over-year dip next year.

Not surprisingly, a sampling of large employers in northern Nevada aren't expecting to grow their workforces significantly this year, although certainly the news is not as grim as last year at this time.

International Game Technology in Reno, which laid off 700 workers in late 2008 and early 2009, is hiring for about 75 new positions, 30 of those in Reno. The local positions are mostly in engineering, particularly software engineering, IGT Marketing Director Julie Brown says.

The company, which designs and makes gaming machines, is the largest manufacturer in northern Nevada. As a whole, statewide manufacturing employment is expected to decline 15.5 percent this year over 2009 and fall 8 percent next year before flattening in 2012.

Mining hasn't been as hard hit as other industries. State employment researchers project a 1 percent decline in Nevada mining employment this year and a slight increase next year and in 2012.

Newmont Mining Corp., the second largest gold producer in the state, probably won't grow its Nevada workforce in 2010.

"We don't have immediate plans, but we have several projects that are advancing through various permitting phases," spokesman Matt Murray says.

If any of those come to fruition this year, employment could go up, but Murray says that's an open question. The company, which has mines scattered across northeastern Nevada, now employs about 3,700 in Nevada.

Barrick Gold of North America, the largest gold producer in the state with 3,350 local employees, plans to add 100 to 150 new jobs in 2010. The new jobs are for staffing underground mining and other positions at the Cortez Hills Mine in Lander County and the expansion of the Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County, says company spokesman Lou Schack.

Casinos continue to dominate the list of the region's largest employers. Statewide the leisure and hospitality industry has lost 44,100 jobs so far in the recession, second to construction.

The Atlantis, which employs 1,800, has managed to avoid any broad layoffs in the tough economy and is now hiring for 40 positions.

"Until we see what all of 2010 will bring economically, it is difficult to forecast how our team might grow," Atlantis spokesman Ben McDonald says. "However we do not foresee any indication that the Atlantis would see a drop in the numbers of our team."

Utilities and healthcare are the only sectors that will see an employment boost this year, according to state projections, although the increases are tiny less than a half percentage point over last year.

The outlook for NV Energy is steady for 2010, spokesman Karl Walquist says. The company had 3,087 employees as of January, including 1,209 in northern Nevada, primarily Reno. One year ago, the utility had 3,330 employees statewide with 1,309 in northern Nevada and northeastern California.

The battered construction industry, meanwhile, hasn't seen the bottom yet. Employment in the sector plummeted 29 percent last year over 2008, and is projected to drop 21 percent this year and 20 percent in 2011.

Employment will finally stabilize in 2012 with a slight decrease of 1 percent, according to state projections.

It's too soon to predict the jobs outlook this year at Q&D Construction, one of the largest employers in Reno and Sparks. The general contractor is bidding on a number of very large as well as some medium-sized jobs, company spokeswoman Sheila Hlubucek says. It will bring on more workers if it wins any of the large contracts, stay about the same if it wins some of the medium-size jobs, and shrink if bidding goes badly. With so many competitors bidding, it's tough to say what might happen.

No other industries are expected to lose as many jobs this year as the construction sector, and some will remain relatively flat.

United Parcel Service, which employs 1,100 at its Sparks facility, has hired six people locally so far. The company says it plans to hire as needed during the year based on volume and needs.

The latest state figures peg unemployment in Reno and Carson City at 12.7 percent in December, slightly less than the statewide figure of 13 percent, which almost matched the highest rate on record of September's 13.3 percent.

Researchers project Nevada will lose 65,079 jobs this year over 2009, an almost 6 percent drop. That follows last year's decrease of 9.5 percent. Next year employment will take a smaller dip of 23,788 jobs, a 2 percent decrease over 2010. Employment will finally settle in 2012 with an addition of 16,101, an increase of 1.6 percent over 2011.

To put these grim figures in perspective, consider: The deepest recession before this one was in the 1980s and lasted 18 months, and its worst year-over-year job losses were 4.5 percent. On average, Nevada employment has grown by 76 percent in every decade since the 1940s, yet the jobs base between December 1999 and December 2009 grew by just 15 percent, says the Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation.