Thursday, March 11, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.
Nevadans were less likely to have graduate or professional degrees than residents of any other state except Mississippi, according to Census Bureau calculations released Wednesday.
Some area academics and public- and private-sector officials said the results were to be expected in a state dominated by the hotel and construction industries, neither of which require large numbers of highly educated workers.
But while the Census Bureau linked educational achievement to potential personal income, some said that Nevada does not necessarily fall into that stereotype.
"Those that blindly follow this indicator will think we're more like Mississippi than we want to be," University of Nevada, Las Vegas economics professor Keith Schwer said. "But in income, Nevada is not a poor state. On average Nevada's a relatively well-off state."
According to the survey, which looked at people 25 and older in 2002, 9.4 percent of Americans had advanced degrees such as a master's, a doctorate or a law or medical school diploma. The District of Columbia led the nation with 23.6 percent of its residents having an advanced degree. Massachusetts ranked second with 14.5 percent.
Nevada, Clark County, and Las Vegas all ranked near the bottom in their categories.
In Nevada 5.9 percent of those surveyed had advanced degrees, barely above Mississippi with 5.8 percent.
Las Vegas ranked 65th of 70 ranked cities, with 5.3 percent; and Clark County ranked 216th out of 238 ranked counties, with 5.9 percent of its population having graduate or professional degrees.
But Schwer, who is also director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said that when looking at other indicators of how well off the area community is, Nevada does much better.
For example, he said, in a 2001 Census Bureau survey Nevada ranked 17th in average personal income. Meanwhile, Mississippi ranked last in that survey too, he said.
Ronald Smith, a UNLV sociology professor, said that while the Nevada's poor showing in the 2002 survey, "doesn't look good on paper, but when you look at the niche we have it's understandable."
Smith and Schwer said that 60 to 70 percent of Las Vegans work in the tourism industry.
"The bottom line is that the economy, the job market dictates what we attract," Smith said. "And generally to work in the hotel industry you don't need a higher degree."
Glen Arnado, political director for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, also said that the survey of residents with advanced degrees doesn't tell the whole story.
"Las Vegas is the last bastion where people of modest education and skill level can find a good union job and become part of the middle class," Arnado said. "We have good jobs for people with a limited education."
But Arnado said the survey also shows the need to improve the educational system here.
"We don't have the quality of education to attract and build a more diverse economy," he said.
University Regent Howard Rosenberg said that while the survey results were not surprising, "it is disturbing when you read statistics like that."
Rosenberg also said that he believes that even in Nevada, how much people can earn is tied to how educated they are.
"If you don't have an educated work force you have low wages," he said.
But while Rosenberg said that increasing the percentage of residents with higher degrees is desirable, at this time he's more concerned about improving high school graduation rates, and keeping students who start college from dropping out.
A 2001 private study ranked Nevada 49th among other states and the District of Columbia in the total percentage of students who graduated from high school. The state's graduation rate of 54.7 percent beat only Florida and South Carolina.
"The first thing I hear from students is that they can make $60,000 a year parking cars. Well, how many cars need to be parked?" said Rosenberg, who is also an art education professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "How can I worry about a lack of advanced degrees with I have kids not graduating high school?"
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