Fresh off a successful year of recruiting new employers and new jobs into the region, executives of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada said last week they expect the trend to build momentum.
Factors that range from skyrocketing industrial rents in the Silicon Valley to pent-up demand from companies that have delayed expansion plans for several years are likely to bring new employers to northern Nevada.
Mike Kazmierski, president and chief executive officer of EDAWN, says the economic development agency is returning to the basics as it woos new employers.
“Be out there, knock on doors, visit with companies,” he says in summarizing EDAWN’s approach.
It paid benefits in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
EDAWN assisted 16 companies that created 875 jobs during the 12-month period.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
Evidence of upturn: Demand for temporary workers is strong
Tom Miller ticks off the requests that employers phoned in early last week to Applied Staffing Solutions, where Miller is director of staffing and recruiting services.
Twenty workers here. Another 18 in the next call. A dozen in the next call.
In fact, by mid-week, Applied Staffing had posted a jobs-available sign along the street outside its south-Reno office to recruit workers to fill the vacancies.
While the jobless rate in Reno, Sparks and Carson City remained stuck at about 11.7 per- cent during June, temporary employment agencies say their business has been booming since the start of the year.
And that may be good news for the future, as employers often begin adding temporary workers before they make the commitment to hire permanent staff.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
Wells readies for growth from mine
Wells is poised to become Nevada’s next boomtown.
Residents of the small community 50 miles east of Elko are eyeing the opening of Newmont Mining Corporation’s Long Canyon mine in the nearby Pequop Mountains with eager anticipation. Among the mine’s project- ed benefits to Well’s 1,400 residents: increased employment opportunities and an influx of new businesses providing much-needed goods and services.
Newmont purchased the Long Canyon property from Fronteer Gold in 2011 for $2.3 billion — a clear indication of Newmont’s thoughts on the property’s potential as a gold
mine. Newmont expects the mine to be in production by 2017, and construction of mining facilities is expected to start in a few years, says Dan Anderson, a former Fronteer executive who now works as regional environmental affairs manager for Newmont. Both the construction and production phases are expected to employ between 300 and 500 workers, with a mine life of eight to 10 years under currently defined ore reserves.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
EDITOR’S NOTE: We feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the July 30, 2012, edition of the NNBW.
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