By Joe Moeller, KTNV, July 6, 2023
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — June proved to be a big month when it comes to job growth.
According to a new report, nearly half a million jobs were added last month, that’s double what was expected.
Small business owners including the owner of Crazy Pita are still adjusting to a changing workforce.
“We did a couple things, we started with ‘Hi Percy,’ we started hiring Percy, a company out of Toronto, it provided us with people who can take orders,” said Mehdi Zarhloul, owner of Crazy Pita Rotisserie & Grill.
Zarhloul says finding people to fill positions has been a struggle since the pandemic despite paying double paying above minimum wage.
“We are a small company, we can not afford to have a number of people on the floor,” he said. “Labor is kind of limited, it is kind of a problem.”
He says major businesses on the Strip hiring for a number of jobs does not make it easy.
“It does make it difficult, on the Strip, for example, they are pulling all the force from other cities,” he said.
A new job report from ADP shows record job growth for June in the private sector. 497,000 jobs were added across the country. Leisure and hospitality, Las Vegas’s leading industry comes with 232,000 jobs.
Nevada’s current unemployment rate is around 3.7 percent, during the pandemic it was sitting around 30 percent.
“Half a million new jobs in a month is enormous,” said Christopher O’Leary, a senior economist with W.E. Upjohn Institute for employment research. “A healthy economy 3 years ago pre-pandemic was 200,000 to 250,000 jobs.”
O’Leary says at this time of the year, there is a lot of seasonal hiring, he said the hospitality industry is still likely rebounding from the pandemic.
“The maid service, the tipped employees, the waiters, the waitresses,” he said. “They are all just trying to get to pre-pandemic levels. I am not sure are are back they yet, a very strong June will do a lot to get back.”
While Zarhloul navigates the changing workforce, others are noticing changes in all industries since the pandemic.
“The demand is huge for people to get together and come back to the office,” said Dana Berggren, owner of The Coop Cowork.
The Coop Cowork is an office building where small businesses can rent space.
She says a variety of businesses work there. She’s also hiring as business remains strong.
“I think the economy is very strong in Southern Nevada,” she said. “We are seeing explosive business growth with the rise in memberships in the coworking space.”
O’Leary says the labor department will release their numbers Friday, and he expects them to be similar to the ADP numbers released.