Thursday, Nov. 29, 2001 | 10:35 a.m.
The pain of tens of thousands of "displaced workers" throughout the Las Vegas Valley continues, more than two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks cooled Southern Nevada's red-hot economy.
And economists and observers say they're not sure when that pain will finally end, or when Las Vegas' boomtown days will return.
It is estimated as many as 20,000 people -- a majority of them casino workers -- were laid off after the city's tourism industry nosedived in the days and weeks after Sept. 11.
Layoffs started with the casino industry -- at least 13,000 lost their jobs along the Strip -- but have begun rippling into other parts of the Las Vegas economy. Unemployment soared from 5 percent to 6.7 percent in the Las Vegas area from September to October.
Behind those numbers lie individual struggles, of people who have been searching for work for weeks and months, willing to take anything at this point, not having success.
"We're getting phone calls from people with a high level of anxiety," said Michael Slater, executive director of the Nevada Interfaith Council for Worker Justice. "They haven't been in this situation before, and are desperately calling around looking for solutions. So many service industry workers live paycheck to paycheck."
One resident trying to find his footing is construction worker Mike Salazar, laid off from his job as a heavy equipment operator Sept. 14. Temporary work has been available, Salazar said, but only on the weekends, and not at wages anywhere near what he's used to.
And while unemployment drags on, the situation grows more dire. Salazar said he's homeless now, and lives with friends and relatives. His car has broken down, so he's riding a bike. To get medicine to treat his diabetes, he does yard work for a physician.
"I've lived here since 1956," Salazar said. "I've had to stand in line to fill out applications. I've never had to do that. I'm so desperate that I'll take any type of work."
Mike Wical shares his attitude. After eight years in Las Vegas, Wical lost his job in October working for a company that installs sliding divider walls. Much of the demand for that product comes from casinos, so when the casinos headed downhill, so did his line of work.
Job competition
Wical, who supports a wife, two children and his mother, is relying on unemployment benefits, 401(k) money and temporary jobs. There are jobs, he says, but the competition for those jobs is ferocious. He tried looking for work through the Culinary Union, but nothing's available there.
"If you look at the paper (want ads), you think the job market is great," Wical said. "But once you start looking, it's tough. I'll take anything, even at lower wages. I had three jobs at once three years ago. You had no problem finding work. It was easy."
Since Sept. 11, the hardest blow by far has been felt by casino workers. Figures compiled by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation showed that casino employment fell by 10,000 from September to October.
Put in other terms, that means one out of every 20 casino jobs in the Las Vegas Valley was lost in one month.
But layoffs in the casino industry are having a ripple effect on other sectors, since other jobs depend on dollars spent by casino companies and casino workers. Total unemployment in the Las Vegas Valley rose by 14,000 from September to October.
"When the casino worker loses his job, then there's a grocery store worker who loses his job, and there's a multiplier effect," said UNLV economics professor Jeffrey Waddoups. "The only number that can make that (employment) number grow is if the casino workers regain purchasing power."
Unemployment insurance lasts for 26 weeks in Nevada. If workers cannot find work before that deadline passes -- and the federal government does not extend those benefits, as some in Congress have proposed -- then employment could sink further as laid-off workers lose another source of income, Waddoups said.
Jobs are available. State economic data indicated that employment actually rose in several sectors from September to October, including retail; medical and health; legal, engineering, accounting and management; and state and local government.
The state-maintained job bank currently has 42,000 job openings posted by 2,000 employers, said Karen Rhodes, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. But the jobs may not offer wages comparable to jobs lost, Rhodes cautioned.
"If you lose your job, you have no guarantees of replacing it with the same benefits and wages you left," Rhodes said.
The state does offer basic retraining for laid-off workers. Interviewing and job searching skills are one offering, computer training another.
Feeling paralyzed
"If you've worked in the casino industry for years, and that's all you've ever done, you feel very paralyzed trying to go into another industry," Rhodes said. "We'll help them explore their options, how their talents can translate into another industry. A lot of times, people won't even need more training."
But for many high-demand sectors, more advanced training is needed. And that takes time.
Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera noted that there's heavy demand for nurses around Clark County.
"It's quite a lag time to turn a dealer into a nurse," Herrera said.
The employment situation in Las Vegas reversed itself somewhat as business returned in the weeks after Sept. 11. The three largest casino companies on the Strip -- MGM MIRAGE, Park Place Entertainment Corp. and Mandalay Resort Group -- recalled about 4,400 of the 12,900 laid off by the three companies.
The opening of two new casinos is also helping to ease the situation. The Palms opened Nov. 15 on Flamingo Road, creating 2,500 jobs. And because Green Valley Ranch Station Casino is opening in Henderson Dec. 18, Station Casinos Inc. is starting the process of restoring full-time work weeks for its workforce, Station spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said.
Green Valley Ranch, 50 percent owned by the Greenspun family of Las Vegas (owner of the Las Vegas Sun) will employ 2,000. Twelve hundred will be employed directly by Station, while another 800 will work in restaurants and bars owned by outside companies.
But many recalled employees around Las Vegas haven't come back to full employment, as workers who might be needed to serve a full hotel on a weekend aren't needed when occupancy at that hotel plunges during midweek.
At MGM MIRAGE, for example, 6,400 were laid off, and 2,100 were recalled on a part-time basis. But those recalled may find themselves without work again in December, if travel takes its historic holiday dip.
Though there have been no further layoffs, "during December, it is likely few will be called back to work," said MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman.
Even if business returns to its former highs, it is unlikely all casino workers will get their job back. During conference calls with investors in recent weeks, most casino operators acknowledged they're unlikely to hire back all the workers who were laid off because of more streamlined operations.
Needs for recovery
Full recovery for Las Vegas depends on Americans returning to the skies, on consumer confidence returning to normal, on a national economic recovery, economists say.
Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said the national recovery will probably be hampered by continued difficulties in a number of industries, including technology and tourism.
America's recovery will also be hindered by extremely high consumer and business debt, Waddoups said. Waddoups argues much of the country's growth of the last decade was driven by debt, and cash that would have gone to consumer spending will instead go to paying down that debt.
The consensus for a national economic recovery is sometime in mid-2002, Schwer said.
"But I'm not too optimistic," Schwer said. "This could be a slower recovery."
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