Why did Nevada experience the third-largest drop in its labor force participation rate (LFPR) after the COVID-19 pandemic?
This policy brief summarizes the findings of our December 2023 Trends Analysis, produced in partnership with the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), and looks ahead to our continuation of this research in 2024.
Among the key findings of this report:
• Nevada and Clark County’s reductions in labor force participation post-pandemic appear tied to both the economy and education
• Post-pandemic, over one in five jobs in Nevada and one in four jobs in Clark County are still tied to leisure and hospitality
• Nevada’s labor force participation for those with less than a bachelor’s degree (ages 21 to 64) declined from 75.4 percent in 2019 to 74.3 percent in 2021
• Nevada’s lower LFPR in 2021 partly reflected a slightly larger share of the population ages 65 and over compared to 2019
• Nevada has reported some of the lowest labor force participation rates among those between the ages of 55 and 64