In Las Vegas, jobs in information technology are keeping up with the cost of living. Jobs in hospitality, which make up most of the workforce, are not keeping up as housing and daily expenses remain high.
UNLV Says IT Workers Are The Outlier
“Looking at it by industry, only those working in information technology in Clark County have seen their wage growth constantly outpace inflation through the end of 2024,” Andrew Woods, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, told the Las Vegas Review‑Journal. Woods framed it as a blunt reality check: for most locals, pay raises haven’t translated into more buying power.
The Numbers Behind The Claim
Federal labor data back it up. The Las Vegas metro tallied about 303,800 leisure-and-hospitality jobs in its latest profile, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And in May 2024, “computer and mathematical” roles accounted for roughly 1.7 percent of local employment — about 19,000 workers — per an occupational release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s a stark split: a massive service base and a comparatively small tech cohort.
Why Workers Feel The Squeeze
Post‑pandemic housing and rent spikes have eaten into real wages, especially for service workers. As the Las Vegas Review‑Journal notes, home prices climbed sharply after 2020, and UNLV economists say steady real‑wage growth only began in 2024 — leaving many workers with less spending power even as paychecks look bigger on paper.
Where Growth Could Come From
Woods and UNLV analysts argue the region needs more high‑paying fields — health care, warehousing, real estate, and professional services among them — so a broader share of residents can benefit. The university’s Center for Business and Economic Research churns out regional forecasts that guide recruitment and workforce training.
What to watch: whether hospitality’s slump eases enough to lift service wages, whether training pipelines scale for higher‑paying sectors like health care, and whether bigger economic shifts — from Federal Reserve policy to mortgage rates — give workers room to catch up. Even if the stars align, the affordability crunch will likely unwind slowly; a deeper mix of good jobs remains the clearest path to lasting relief.
