Las Vegas scores high in job growth survey

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

Bolstered by job growth generated by the tourism industry, Las Vegas finished near the top of the Milken Institute's 2004 Best Performing Cities Index.

It was the second year in a row that Las Vegas finished second in the 200-city index, which is based on a job-creation survey that measures nine categories involving long-term and short-term employment, high-tech industry output and wage growth.

The city's relative weakness in high-technology output was more than offset by its performance in short-term and long-term job growth.

Las Vegas' five-year job growth was second best in the nation and the 4.84 percent job growth between April 2003 and April 2004 topped the nation.

Even wage and salary growth was healthy, ranking 10th in the five-year measure and 11th in the one-year category.

The short-term high-tech growth ranked 10th in the nation, but the five-year index lagged, coming in at 68th among the 200 cities.

Milken Institute researchers noted that centers of tourism fared well, with the five-year job growth index improving in those cities as a result of the post-9/ 11 rebound and the general improvement of the U.S. economy.

Florida cities did particularly well, not only because of the tourism bounce, but also because low housing costs and a growing elderly population fueled job growth in health care and other services.

"Florida has witnessed solid economic growth in recent years," said Ross DeVol, director of regional economics and the study's primary author. "State leaders should rightly feel a sense of pride amid the recent natural disasters it's suffered."

The report said Las Vegas benefited from California's struggle to maintain job growth.

"The state of California placed a total of seven metros on last year's Milken Institute Top 20 Best Performing Cities index: San Diego (ranked fifth), San Luis Obispo-Atascadero (6), Chico-Paradise (13), Ventura (14), Sacramento (15) Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa (17) and Riverside-San Bernardino (20).

"Only two metros from the state made this year's listing: Riverside-San Bernardino (8) and San Diego (16). California's losses mean gains for lower-cost states-metros, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. A rebound in high-tech exports and renewed domestic investment in IT and communications hardware and software should improve the position of several California metros in 2005," the report said.

Of the top 10 cities on the index, five were in Florida, including the No. 1 city this year, Fort Myers-Cape Coral.

Last year, Las Vegas finished second to this year's No. 7 city, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark., the center of retail giant Wal-Mart's distribution network. Las Vegas was 14th in the survey in 2001.

Reno came in at No. 26 this year, dropping from the 22nd position last year.