When the Boomtown Goes Bust: Las Vegas Jobs in Tough Times

Growing up in Las Vegas, I've probably lived through plenty of tough times in the community, and watched them come and go, without a complete awareness of the severity.  Though I live in a rural community now, the impact of the current recession reaches from Vegas, into those outlying areas, where communities of commuters suffer the same job setbacks as those who live in that immediate area.  The current recession is difficult, as evidenced by many indicators in the lives of friends and family, and all it takes is a drive through the neighborhoods of Las Vegas, or outlying communities, to recognize how severe things are.

With a Dad whose career was tied directly to construction, there were always cycles of challenge, where things were slow, and budgets, crunched.  Married to a construction worker, this has continued to prove true.  There are certain times of year when one can expect things to be more pressed, generally in winter months, where there is less construction, less travel, and in general, less economic activity. 

Presently, there are few family members in the area who aren't affected.  The last couple of years have seen family members laid off from casino related jobs.  There have been cutbacks in hours for those who have held on.  The construction related jobs have faded away, and while City Center was at the center of a huge boom, the aftermath involves bulging out of work lists in union halls, with discouragement prevalent in the faces of those who have waited on those lists for months.  At the height of the boom, companies worried that there would not be a sufficient supply of qualified workers.  Now, the supply of employment for these workers is lacking.

The impact does not stop with construction and casinos.  Many relatives and friends are also confronted with pay cuts, via furlough days, and whereas the agencies they worked for had a once a month furlough a year ago, the furlough days have increased.  For some, the cuts come in direct pay reductions, for others, work days decrease.

At the height of the boom, Las Vegas real estate was a drunken craze of price increases.  In some of the earlier stages of the boom, friends talked about it being difficult to buy a house, not because of the credit and financing issues, but because of the demand.  People spoke of the need to put huge deposits with new home builders, just to have the chance to buy a house in a given development.  Friends told of their neighbors' houses for sale, being ignored in a given price range, and selling quickly if the price was hiked.  Some people, so caught up in the craze, sold their homes at huge profits, only to realize that buying another house was much more costly.  Outlying communities boomed as well, though real-estate prices were not quite as extreme.  Families held multiple jobs in order to pay mortgages, and speculators built in hopes of selling new homes at great profit.

In our rural community, such speculation was still happening, as evidenced by a street filled with new homes built shortly after our arrival in town.  Just as the houses were completed, the bubble began to burst.

Approximately 2 years ago, the home values had fallen nearly 50% in our small area. Foreclosures were happening frequently, and things were harsh. In a recent address search online, I noticed a website called Zillow, and was surprised by a home value. With a little further research, I observed that housing values in the last couple of years were as low as a third of the value at the height of the boom, moreso in outlying areas, while some Vegas properties were somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of that value.

Even those who purchased homes 2 years ago, thinking they were getting a great deal, are potentially underwater at present. Some of those speculatively constructed homes in my neighborhood have since been abandoned. Others have been purchased, probably at a significantly lower price than dreamed of by the initial investors. Driving through the area, it is common to see at least one or two houses on a populated street with papers taped to front doors, evidence of the homeowners' demise.

Hopeful commentary, amongst families we come in contact with, speak to the future.  While they may verbalize the idea that one day we'll be griping because work abounds, it will be slow going to get there.  As I hear older family members comment, when the economy is slow, Vegas is often one of the last places to rebound.  The lavishness and decadence that the city represents to the world is one of the first things to be cut out of the budgets of those who would otherwise patronize, and one of the last things to return to such budgets. 

Hopefully, the harshness of the crash will produce a reality check for the various industries hurt most.  It seems doubtful that things will ever get quite as crazy as they were pre-bubble-bursting.  Hopefully, circumstance, though painfully so, will be a good instructor, and those who currently struggle will be better managers and stewards of the area.  In the meantime, many Southern Nevadans ponder their future, some looking to other areas, and some hanging in where they've lived most of their lives. 

Thanks to http2007 at Flickr for use of the Las Vegas photo, through Creative Commons License.