Nevada’s top industries in need of trained workers

One of Nevada’s industries with the most new jobs added this past year and the industry with the most jobs lost in that same time share a quandary: a need for trained workers.

Representatives of the state’s construction and mining sectors agree with results posted this week by the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation that show construction leads industries in percentage growth of new jobs while mining continues to lose jobs.

That jobs activity has led to Nevada ranking sixth among the states with the fastest growing private job growth during the first half of 2016, according to the state report.

Mining lost 800 jobs this year, a 5.8 percent decrease, according to the report. The state faults weak gold prices over the past five years for the loss.

Mining has been the only industry in the state to lose jobs in the past two calendar years, said Dana Bennett, executive director of the Nevada Mining Association trade group.

“It’s a big deal,” Bennett said. “But these are not layoffs, these are jobs not being filled.”

Bennett’s industry saw expansion during the Great Recession as people invested money in materials like gold. Now that investors are more comfortable putting money back in stocks, that means less funds for mining companies, she said.

A contracting materials market has helped lead to some high-profile bankruptcies for companies in 2015 like Hycroft Mining, which has an open pit, gold and silver mine near Winnemucca.

The exodus of mining workers to parts of the Southwest less hit by the recession left Nevada with less jobs that pay $1,500 a week on average, among the highest paying jobs in the state, according to Wednesday’s report.

Programs to recruit more women in mining and other industries’ investments in alternative sources of energy should prove beneficial to Nevada’s mining sector, Bennett said. Electric cars are powered by lithium mined in the state and solar panels are coated in silver also mined locally.

The companies her association represents need diesel mechanics and technicians. Businesses in the state have created training programs with schools like Great Basin College in Elko.

“The old image of a miner with a pick ax is two centuries old,” she said. “They really don’t know about the opportunities we have.”

As for construction, the industry lead in percentage growth with 7,000 jobs added in 2016, a 10 percent growth from last year. The industry lost about 100,000 jobs in the state between 2006 and 2011.

From February 2015 to to today, the employee counts for members of the Nevada Contractors Association trade group have grown 10 percent, the group’s executive director Sean Stewart said.

Construction activity around the valley has Stewart expecting that growth to continue into next year.

“We’ve seen some of the money start to break loose for our larger projects,” he said.

Paul Schwarz, human resources manager for Hirschi Masonry of North Las Vegas, said his company will need more masons and general laborers once construction season hits a regular high in February.

The North Las Vegas company has had an employee count of about 500 for about two years, Schwarz said.

Hirschi has helped maintain some of its best workers through a internal training program started two years ago. Schwarz himself has visited colleges and high schools to keep his company in mind for top recruits.

“It’s funny because people still think of construction as grabbing a shovel and working outside,” he said. “We’ve actually had success recruiting for many positions. We’ve done well recruiting for HR and management lately.”

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at (702) 383-4602 or wmillward@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @wademillward