Nevada’s jobs have diversified, state board told

Bob Potts, director of research at the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, says not only has Nevada added back 276,800 jobs over the past eight years, the mix of those new jobs is “decidedly different than they were in 2010.”

As of July, there were 1.39 million people employed in Nevada.

While the number of jobs in the tourism, gaming and entertainment industries has grown, it’s a smaller percentage of the total employed in the state. Since 2010, Potts said jobs in health and medicine, Information Technology, manufacturing and aerospace grew as a percentage of the total.

The IT sector, for example, has expanded from 4.7 percent to 5.4 percent of total jobs and manufacturing from 3.8 percent to 4.5 percent while health and medical companies now comprise 9.4 percent of the total compared to 8.5 percent in 2010.

“This structural change has moved us well down the path to a more sustainable and vibrant economy,” he said.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who chairs the GOED board, said the number of industries that view Nevada as a desirable place to do business is growing.

“That economic diversification bodes well for all Nevadans, North and South, urban and rural,” he said.

The board approved $1.6 million in added funding for the Workforce Innovation for the New Nevada (WINN) program to support diesel technology education at Great Basin College in eastern Nevada and cybersecurity education through Multnomah University’s Reno Technology Academy.