A good writeup, though it misses a couple pertinent points.
One of those points is that the boom here in Reno is less about manufacturing and more about warehousing/fulfillment and broader supply chain logistics. Yeah, manufacturing jobs are definitely growing (the Gigafactory being a notable example), but it's the storage and distribution of those manufactured goods that's attracting companies to Reno. The close proximity to Northern California is part of that, but just as critically is the proximity to the rest of the western US; a truck out of Reno can hit California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, or Arizona within 2 days, and likewise so can a package shipped out of Reno (or, correspondingly, a package out of Reno can cheaply be shipped to those states). Vegas has a disadvantage there in that - being so far south - any shipment to those northerly states (Oregon, Washington, etc.) sees an extra day of transit time and - correspondingly - added cost. The fact that the LA metro area is still a manufacturing and warehousing powerhouse, as the article mentions, sure doesn't help, either.
The other point worth mentioning here (and one that might hopefully give Vegas a more optimistic outlook) is that Nevada's got a trick up its sleeve: solar. This whole state's a big, dry, sunny desert. There's practically unlimited room for solar farms up the wazoo, especially since it ain't like there's much else to do with the land here (other than, you know, strip-mining it or blowing it up with weapons tests). Plus, there's geothermal; if you look at a map of the hot springs in the US (and thus the opportunities for geothermal energy), Nevada's a giant blob, waiting to be tapped. Nevada can very well be the green energy hub of the American West, giving Reno/Sparks, Las Vegas, and Elko one hell of an economic jumpstart (pun very much intended).
> is all that going to support hundreds of thousands of ex-casino employees in Clark County?
Per the article, and per the above reasoning, the manufacturing and warehousing sectors probably won't, barring some massive surge in demand that the LA metro area can't handle.
Energy, however, very well could. Solar farms and geothermal plants ain't exactly maintenance-free and 100% automated, after all. Neither are the substations and power lines and other electrical infrastructure getting that power where it needs to be, nor are the roads and trucks getting equipment and parts to those solar farms and geothermal plants.
Plus, with a glut in green energy, other industries get a windfall, too. Electric cars become a lot more viable if literally every parking space is electrified and even the most podunk run-down corners of the state have fast-charging capability. Datacenters get more computing power per dollar as electricity costs go down. Manufacturing and warehousing get even more boosts from being able to run power-hungry equipment more affordably. All this would come without contributing to anthropogenic climate change, and without taking up space that might otherwise be used for farms or forests (good luck having much of either in the Great Basin).
Las Vegas’ unemployment rate, just 3.9 percent in February, was 29 percent in May, by far the highest among major metro areas. Nevada’s jobless rate, 25.3 percent, topped all states and Washington, D.C., federal data shows:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/las-vega...
One of those points is that the boom here in Reno is less about manufacturing and more about warehousing/fulfillment and broader supply chain logistics. Yeah, manufacturing jobs are definitely growing (the Gigafactory being a notable example), but it's the storage and distribution of those manufactured goods that's attracting companies to Reno. The close proximity to Northern California is part of that, but just as critically is the proximity to the rest of the western US; a truck out of Reno can hit California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, or Arizona within 2 days, and likewise so can a package shipped out of Reno (or, correspondingly, a package out of Reno can cheaply be shipped to those states). Vegas has a disadvantage there in that - being so far south - any shipment to those northerly states (Oregon, Washington, etc.) sees an extra day of transit time and - correspondingly - added cost. The fact that the LA metro area is still a manufacturing and warehousing powerhouse, as the article mentions, sure doesn't help, either.
The other point worth mentioning here (and one that might hopefully give Vegas a more optimistic outlook) is that Nevada's got a trick up its sleeve: solar. This whole state's a big, dry, sunny desert. There's practically unlimited room for solar farms up the wazoo, especially since it ain't like there's much else to do with the land here (other than, you know, strip-mining it or blowing it up with weapons tests). Plus, there's geothermal; if you look at a map of the hot springs in the US (and thus the opportunities for geothermal energy), Nevada's a giant blob, waiting to be tapped. Nevada can very well be the green energy hub of the American West, giving Reno/Sparks, Las Vegas, and Elko one hell of an economic jumpstart (pun very much intended).