Working + The Economy
State officials to audit bail bonds companies for compliance
A disproportionate number of the consumer complaints filed with the Nevada Division of Insurance are related to the bail industry. In response, state officials have launched a new initiative — called the Bail Compliance Project — to try and get ahead of the problems plaguing these companies. Beginning this month, state officials will visit every […]
Boys-club culture, lack of oversight contribute to lack of women in trades
UA Local 525 — the plumbers and pipefitters union — has approximately 1,900 members. Only 34 are female. Nobody expects a plumbers and pipefitters union to be 50 percent female, but according to accepted guidelines and the goals they are required by the state to set, they are still coming up short when it comes […]
Stiffer SNAP/Medicaid work requirements counterproductive, report says
Making people work more to get food stamps and health care is punitive and does more harm than good, according to a research paper published this week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center for American Progress (CAP). The Trump administration has been aggressively encouraging states to stiffen work requirements for recipients of […]
Wage theft “epidemic” in construction. Taxpayers paying the tab.
A new ad from Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s gubernatorial campaign alleges his opponent, Steve Sisolak, awarded a public works job to Las Vegas Paving, a union company, for $100 million, over a non-union contractor who bid $4.6 million less. But construction industry experts contend lower bids generate projects that are too often built on the […]
Nevada urban employment grows while rural workforce declines
Nevada job growth in the last year has been concentrated overwhelmingly in urban areas, according to the state Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation (DETR). Employment grew by 2.8 percent statewide from June 2017 to June 2018, or 37,600 new jobs, DETR noted in a release Tuesday. Employment in the Las Vegas metro area increased […]
Retail: Still not dead yet
The number of electronic and mail order retail establishments – your exclusively online shopping stops — tripled between 2001 and 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Only tripled? Over the same period, in most retail sectors, the number of establishments declined, in keeping with the conventional brick & mortar doom & gloom […]
Green Valley Ranch ordered to negotiate with Culinary
Station Casinos is on the losing end of an effort to delay negotiations with the Culinary and Bartenders Unions. The National Labor Relations Board rejected the company’s legal challenge to a union election held in November 2017. The NLRB ruling says 78 percent of Green Valley Ranch Resort’s eligible employees voted in favor of unionization, […]
Report: Nevada ranks 4th in income inequality
Nevada is the fourth most unequal state in the nation when it comes to income distribution, according to a new report. Income for the wealthiest 1 percent of Nevadans in 2015 was 32.7 times that of the bottom 99 percent, according to “The New Gilded Age,” released Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute. The report […]
Universal basic income touted as answer to automation
Earlier this month, the Vdara Hotel & Spa added two relay robots that deliver snacks, sundries and spa products directly to guest suites. While charmingly decorated as a Golden Retriever and Dalmatian dog with Vdara-themed collars, the new robots — named Fetch and Jett — may be a sign of what’s next for Las Vegas. In 20 years, about 65 […]
Amid threats to their industry, sex workers question pushback on rally
Early last month, approximately 150 people donned red outfits and took to the sidewalks in downtown Las Vegas to advocate for the complete decriminalization of sex work. They marched about half a mile. They celebrated afterward with speciality themed cocktails at a supportive downtown bar. By all accounts, everything went smoothly — but the event […]
Cash, cleanliness, black market are biggest worries on legal weed anniversary
If money is a curse, there’s a powerful hex over Nevada’s fledgling cannabis industry. Barely a year old and the legal weed business is smashing projections for sales ($433.5 million in the ten months reported so far) and tax revenue (projected at $50 million for the year, revenue has reached $55.5 million after ten reported […]
Is the Green rush leaving women and minorities behind?
How do you create equity in the cannabis industry so people of color, low-income communities and those disenfranchised by marijuana laws can benefit from a multimillion-dollar business? A year into recreational sales bringing new employment and business opportunities to the state, Nevada is still trying to answer that question. “In my opinion, (the state) […]