Strong economic growth but high unemployment: A look at Nevada’s economy

In March 2020, when the deadly coronavirus had become a global pandemic, indoor public spaces were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were issued to ensure health and safety.

When the deadly coronavirus become a global pandemic in March 2020, indoor public spaces were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were issued to ensure health and safety. In a flash, Nevada saw its leisure and hospitality lifeblood quickly cut off. In Las Vegas, the cacophony of voices, music, ringing slot machines and car horns that typically pulsed through the Las Vegas Strip was replaced by silence, the chirps of birds and the wails of sirens. In Reno, John Simpson was on an emotional rollercoaster in the early months of the pandemic, not knowing whether his Press Start arcade bar could stay open or be forced to close. “When [former Governor Steve] Sisolak finally decided we had to close, I definitely went into despair,” Simpson told CNN. “All I had worked for, sacrificed for, was gone in an instant. It felt hopeless for a long time.” Nevada finally bounced back … big time: It’s now home to the sixth-fastest-growing economy among US states and is benefiting from both a surge in experience-centric spending and a rise in advanced technologies and logistics.