Reno’s job market still favors employees seeking higher wages. October saw an employment increase of 1,300 jobs from the previous month and more than 11,000 jobs since October a year ago.
That’s the latest data provided by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Nevada as a whole had 11,200 new jobs filled.
“Employment is still below typical levels, but is up 96,700 since October 2020,” state officials reported today.
The state’s total unemployment rate is 7.3%, down from 7.5% in September.
“This report shows rebounding employment growth in Nevada with the state adding 11,200 jobs in October, the second-strongest month of the past year,” state economist David Schmidt said. “This growth was spread across many different industries with professional and business services growing the most. The state’s labor market is continuing a rapid recovery as we emerge from the COVID recession.”
Employees are pickier about job prospects. Businesses and government agencies are scrambling to hire new personnel.
The lack of jobs paying enough to meet Reno’s increasingly high cost of living, however, has people thinking twice about moving here.
High cost of living turning people away
Nationally, “nearly two-thirds of renters paying at least half of their income on housing earn less than US$20,000, which is below the poverty line for a family of three. Renters with somewhat higher incomes also struggle with housing affordability, but the problem is most pervasive and most severe among very-low income households,” according to researchers at the University of Kansas and The New School.
Many in Reno report the same. A person on Reddit posted about moving to Reno, from Florida, for a $38,000 per year job. Responses were not encouraging.
“The McDonald’s in Truckee, CA (a half-hour drive away) has huge signs trying to get people to work there starting at $19/hr, i.e. $38,000 per year,” a commenter responded. “That should tell you something about the cost of living in this overall region. Reno used to be a cheap, gritty, ‘undesirable’ place to live. Those days are over.”
Other commenters said, simply, don’t do it: “$38k in Reno would fucking suck.”
