Nearly 158,000 people relocated to Nevada from California since 2020, making up 43 percent of all new residents to the Silver State during the past four years, according to data from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

The pandemic hit Nevada hard, but it eventually eased and the state came back to life economically, just not as fast as the rest of the country. Though our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country, it’s still around 5%, which economists have long said amounts to full employment. What’s hurting is inflation combined with a very low rate of wage growth.

In Part I of this article, I showed how economic growth has slowly declined in all major industrialized economies. I did my review based on 20 countries from around the world, including Australia and Japan, but the GDP growth problem is most pervasive in Europe.

When President Biden flies into Nevada on Monday and to Arizona the following day, he’s likely to compliment the West’s natural beauty, pay homage to the unmatched political power of the Culinary Workers Union and nod to local Democratic elected officials.

When President Biden flies into Nevada on Monday and to Arizona the following day, he’s likely to compliment the West’s natural beauty, pay homage to the unmatched political power of the Culinary Workers Union and nod to local Democratic elected officials. Another truth about his visit to the two Southwestern states may remain unspoken: Though together they are home to only about 3% of the U.S. population, Arizona and Nevada are expected to have an outsize influence on the outcome of the 2024 presidential race.

Nevada remains stuck at 5.3% unemployment despite job growth statistics that suggest there’s plenty of work out there. Why hasn’t the state’s unemployment rate returned to pre-pandemic levels, when it was around 3.6%? That was the lowest it had been since 1976, and it was roughly equal to the national average just before the COVID-19 lockdown four years ago.

Last month, the Super Bowl was held here in Las Vegas. The event had a significant economic impact on the Entertainment Capital of the World. Here to speak about that, as well as the state of the U.S. economy, is University of Nevada, Las Vegas economics professor Stephen Miller. He is the Director of Research for the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV’s Lee Business School.

The Bitsize Business Breakfast Podcast goes on a discussion with Professor of Economics, Stephen Miller, regarding the inflation measure of 2.4% for January and the overall prospective future of the United States economy, especially with the election around the corner.