The health of the Las Vegas economy was a major storyline for much of 2025 and the visitation and gaming revenue data from November showed that operators were still performing decently despite an ongoing tourism lag. This month, new data indicates that the city’s workforce might be feeling the crunch.
According to a report released last week by Nevada’s Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR), Las Vegas shed 4,700 jobs from September to November. Almost half (2,200) of those lost jobs came from the leisure and hospitality sector, with construction being the second-biggest shedder (1,700 jobs).
DETR Chief Economist David Schmidt said in the report the state’s economy is “fairly steady”, with job losses and wage increases essentially cancelling out. But overall, the data “paints a mixed picture of the labour market as we near the end of 2025”, he said.
Per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada’s 5.3% unemployment rate is currently the third-highest in the US, behind California and Washington, DC. The Las Vegas metro area’s unemployment rate is higher, at 5.7%. Through November, visitation to Las Vegas was down more than 7% from the same point in 2024, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Airport traffic fell nearly 10% year-over-year in November and was down 5.5% for the year.
This confluence of factors caused the Southern Nevada Business Confidence Index, which is tracked by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to fall in Q4 to its lowest level since the Great Recession of the early 2000s. Hiring sentiment, the report said, has been below average for six quarters. This has left local business leaders to expect “worsening national and local economic conditions”.
2025 was to be ‘banner year’
One of the biggest labour forces in Las Vegas is the Culinary Union Local 226, which represents approximately 60,000 non-gaming employees throughout the region. The union in late 2023 and early 2024 used strikes as leverage with casino-hotel operators to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements with 32% cumulative wage increases and other benefits.
In both instances, the strikes threatened to derail key events – the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix in 2023 and the Super Bowl in 2024 – but both events were ultimately successful for the city, generating a combined $2.5 billion in estimated economic impact. The Culinary Union has continued to expand its reach, and has since completed its long-sought goal of unionising the entire Las Vegas Strip.
Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer, told iGB that union members came into 2025 “expecting a banner year” performance-wise after a record-breaking stretch post-Covid.
The most worrying part about the extended downturn spilling into 2026, he said, is that it is largely “a policy-driven war on tourism”, as opposed to the Covid pandemic or stalled contract negotiations. This was in reference to US President Donald Trump, whose aggressive trade policies and strained foreign relations have been cited as factors impacting the Las Vegas economy.
“For Las Vegas, the ‘Trump Slump’ is real, it’s alive and it’s happening,” Pappageorge said.
Will ‘no tax on tips’ help ease strain on Las Vegas economy?
Now that tax season is under way, Las Vegas workers could see some reprieve thanks to one Trump-led benefit, a tax credit for tip income included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress in July. Nevada’s sizeable tourism industry gives the state a high concentration of tipped workers, and it is one of just six states that mandates full minimum wage rates regardless of tips.
The so-called “no tax on tips” provision is not absolute, with the deductions capped at $25,000, but the idea was a major selling point before and after Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Trump garnered 47% of the vote in Clark County in the 2024 race, up from 44% in 2020.
Workers can start claiming the tip deductions for their 2025 returns, as several core jobs of the Las Vegas economy qualify for the new benefit. This includes four gaming-specific jobs as well as general hospitality and entertainment positions. However, while as many as 400,000-plus Nevadans could theoretically qualify, the real number of workers who will actually see benefits is unknown. The new policy is vague in some areas, and some workers don’t make enough to qualify for federal taxes.
Pappageorge acknowledged the credit will be useful for workers but cautioned that certain factors are undesirable, like impacts on married couples who both collect tips and exclusion of automatic gratuities.
“The issue of ‘no taxes on tips’ will be some relief, and there’s some recent things that [Trump] has thrown out there,” he said. “But what we really need is a course correction. Legitimate travel, tourism and hospitality has to be welcomed.”
Jess Marquez
Jess has covered the global gaming industry since 2022. A native of Reno, Nevada, he’d like to note that it’s Ne-va-da, not Ne-VAH-da.
Information about its jobs market paints a still-unsettled picture for southern Nevada.