Nevada's Economy During the 1990's, Nevada's economy grew dramatically, as indicated by an increase in the labor force of 320,000 workers. As of January 2001, industrial employment (defined as number of jobs by place of work) stood at just over 1 million. Most jobs are in the service sector (about 43 percent) followed by wholesale and retail trade, government, construction, and manufacturing. In rural Nevada, government, mining, and agriculture dominate local economies. Nevada's tourism based economy has proven vulnerable to down turns in the national economy. Over the past year for example, hotel, gaming, and recreation employment, has grown less than one percent. Visitor counts in Reno and Las Vegas have also flattened as the gross gaming win has averaged little or no growth. The overall reduction in gaming activity can be expected to linger as long as the U.S. and global economies continue to struggle and California's high energy prices impact discretionary income. The growing number of gaming establishments on tribal lands in California also is expected to affect Nevada gaming and associated tourism revenues. While Nevada's overall economy remains robust, changes in the national economy will continue to affect tourism in Nevada. Total output from the primary natural resource based industries increased, but not in proportion to the gross state product, which doubled to $63.044 billion from 1990 to 1998. Overall agricultural productivity rose 41 percent to $444 million. However, the farm production component fell 3 percent to $142 million. Mining productivity (i.e., metal, nonmetallic, and oil and gas extraction) grew $100 million during the same period to $1.529 billion. Despite the downturn in gold prices and drop in mining activity, almost all of the mining productivity increase was due to metals mining. Oil and gas productivity declined $31 million. The proportionate contribution from the agriculture and mining industries to the state total economy declined from 5.3 percent in 1990 to 3.1 percent in 1998 (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2000). Additional Resources: DETR - Nevada Economy at a Glance U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis   Next Page -- Energy in Nevada Back to Table of Contents