Here’s why Nevada is one of the least productive states, according to a new study

Nevada is one of the least productive states in the country, according to a new study.

From 2007 through 2024, Nevada’s productivity ranking only grew 13 percent in relation to how much average workers produced per hour, according to a study from My Perfect Resume.

Only two states saw slower productivity growth, Connecticut (8 percent) and Louisiana (5 percent). The My Perfect Resume study looked at U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, comparing each state’s total economic output from GDP data with the total number of hours worked in each state, hence when output grows faster than hours, productivity rises.

The most productive states were Washington (66 percent), followed by North Dakota (61 percent) and California (51 percent).

Nathan Barber, a spokesperson for My Perfect Resume said the team’s analysts explained why Nevada ranked so low.

“Nevada’s slower productivity growth mainly reflects its industry mix and the pattern of its economic recovery. The state’s economy leans heavily on leisure, hospitality, and tourism, which are labor-intensive but not output-intensive industries, meaning they depend more on people than on technology or capital investment,” he said.

Nevada was also one of the hardest hit states by the 2008 Great Recession. The tourism and gaming sectors took a massive hit as Americans pulled back on discretionary spending, along with a market slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic as well during the lockdowns. The report also noted that Nevada saw one of the largest construction downturns in the country during the Great Recession and was slow to rebound in such sectors as technology and manufacturing.

“Even as jobs returned, much of the state’s growth came from service-sector hiring rather than efficiency gains, which kept output per hour from rising as sharply as in more technology-driven states like Washington or California,” said Barber. “In short, Nevada’s economy grew back in size, but not necessarily in efficiency: more workers, but not much more output per hour.”

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com