Nevada economic recovery not expected before 2011
CARSON CITY — State financial analysts said today they do not expect much if any of an economic recovery in Nevada before the 2011 calendar year.
Janet Rogers, a state economist, told the state Economic Forum that there has been a 7 percent decline in Nevada employment and she sees businesses continuing to lower wages in the coming year. Employment will begin to increase in 2011, she said.
Her view was similar to predictions by Global Insight, a national economics monitoring firm, and by Russell Guindon, a legislative fiscal analyst.
Global Insight predicts a 4.2 percent decline in Nevada employment during the current fiscal year and a 3.1 percent drop in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Then it sees a modest 1 percent employment growth in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010.
The firm said the recession both in the United States and around the world is the worst since the end of World War II.
Their pessimistic outlook will not make the job of the Economic Forum members any easier. The five forum members, all private business people, today will estimate the amount of tax revenue that will be available for state government to spend in the two-year period beginning July 1.
“Nevada is being impacted more so by this recession than many other states,” said forum member John Restrepo, principal with Restropo Consulting Group in Las Vegas. “Nevada is down there at the very bottom in terms of employment.”
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.
