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VEGAS INC COVER STORY CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE What part of the labor force does Ne- vada need to address or improve? One of the big situations that we have is that about 12.5 percent of our work force when we were at peak economy was in the construction industry. The national average was about 5 percent. We're back to that 5 percent, so 7.5 percent of our un- employment is because of that boom in construction and the bust. Many who lost their jobs in the construction industry are going to have to look for different fields of work because we're not going to get back to 12.5 percent of our work force being in construction. We see real opportunities in health care. There's about a 45,000-job gap be- tween the number of health-care jobs in Nevada and the national average on a per-capita basis. Our health-care special- ists are working on a couple of programs with the university system and with DETR (the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation) to help train people for those jobs. Because those jobs are available, the health sector continues to grow in spite of the economy. From a short-term standpoint, we think there are opportunities in manufactur- ing and logistics. The mines are doing really well and are struggling to find em- ployees. The situation in northeastern Nevada is markedly different from the rest of the state. There are housing short- ages, so folks in the construction industry know there are construction jobs there. School districts across the state are show- ing vast improvements. There are more graduates from the university system. As we continue to improve the work force, that also attracts companies. The situation we have right now is that we have a lot of really great people that don't have a job. That's attractive to com- panies. As those people get back to work and our unemployment continues to fall, increasing the capacity of the work force is going to be an important thing. What's the biggest quality of life issue raised when companies say they don't want to move to Nevada? What we hear when that comes up is an image issue. Obviously, the gaming and tourism industry have done a terrific job growing that industry and recovering from the recession. But the "What hap- pens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" image, to some extent, eliminates some companies from looking at the Las Vegas market. And then, there's the concern about 16 | 30 JULY 2012 | DIVERSIFICATION CZAR: Steve Hill, state director of economic development, is looking at ways to ensure that education matches up with opportunities in the state's economy. education. What we find across the state is if we can get the companies to come with their families and see what we really have to offer instead of the perspective they have lot of minds. Some companies are unwill- ing to do that. But if we can get those com- panies here, they see a different commu- nity than the perception. We have some terrific schools that their kids can attend, and there are all kinds of opportunities in Las Vegas for quality of life. to broaden the image of Nevada. Down- town Las Vegas is becoming a cool place for the tech sector and the arts crowd. Having a vibrant downtown matters. Are we investing enough in education to make a difference in perceptions about the state? Obviously, the funding we put in educa- tion is a conversation we're going to have again in the next legislative session. But I think what most people are saying – and I know the governor has said this publicly – is that we'd like to see more money go into education as our economy improves. I think the question out there for those raise taxes, is that going to hurt the econ- omy, and ultimately hurt the amount of revenue we bring in and really not help the school system? from out of state, that tends to change a Why did the state insist on setting up a new layer of economic development authorities? LEILA NAVIDI and measure the results. Each of the de- velopment authorities throughout the state will be measured in 11 standard areas. If they say they are going to do a certain initiative, we'll measure that. I think it will be helpful for the whole effort and provide a level of confidence that the money being invested, which is taxpayer The focus on most of the development money, is well spent. authorities has been almost solely on re- cruiting companies from out of state into What is the status of the seven key Nevada, and if you look at a full spectrum industries the state wants to bring to the state? of a job description of economic develop- One significant Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh also is helping ment, it's going to include helping busi- nesses that are here stay and grow, help- ing commercialize research done at the environment better and looking at global exports. All of those parts of the job need- nomic development to do in the past. From a process standpoint, in the past, initiative that we're undertaking in defense is seeking to be designated as one of the test sites for un- universities, helping make the business manned aerial vehicles. We think Nevada has a lot to offer. We're the nerve center for unmanned aerial vehicles for the ed to be added to what we've asked eco- military and the defense industry, and we have a large corridor where people don't live. We have the opportunity to fly un- the major development authorities in the manned aerial vehicles in an area that's state have basically gotten a check from safe and doesn't have privacy concerns, which is something that most areas in the country don't have. the general fund, and there hasn't been a lot of accountability attached to that. They report, but the funding hasn't really been tied to performance. We issued a request for proposals and are contracting with the new develop- who have to make this decision is if we ment authorities to provide the services We're also looking at the opportunities that may be a result of potential defense cuts in the national federal budget con- versation. Because Nevada is a core com- ponent of the defense industry, if there's