CEO Update

Thanks to all that attended the EDAWN, The Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce and theRSCVA  Alliance event:

A Regional Business Expo & Economic Update on January 25th. The event focused on educating educating the community on the partnership and combined efforts of these organizations to move our economy in a positive direction. Governor Sandoval was recognized for his commitment to the revitalization of Northern Nevada’s economy. Click here for EDAWN’s slide presentation.
If you don’t have an intern you may want to hire one.  There is an abundance of intern talent in the region.  To find an intern at TMCC, contact Marcie Iannacchione; WNC, contact Georgia White; UNR Career Studio, contact Elizabeth Loun and at the WCSD, contact Dana Ryan. These are all listed in the EDAWN Employer Workforce Resource Guide.

Reno ranks #8 on the list of #30 Best Small Cities in the United States, In the recent National Geographic.

“The most exciting travel story in America right now. At Nat Geo Travel, we’re passionate about tales of urban renewal, about communities that have collaborated to improve their Main Streets, about smart cities that have pursued development policies that produce happiness.”  Here is the article.

Moody’s Analytics Article –   Recent Performance.

Reno is riding high, but the labor market is settling into a more modest pace of growth after adding workers at a rate among the fastest in the West last year.  Goods producers are growing, thanks to developments at Tesla’s Gigafactory.  Here is the article.

Sierra Sun.com article – 

Northern Nevada’s economy continues to climb, with big tech leading the way. In 2011, Nevada, like many states, was getting hit hard by the unrelenting jabs of the Great Recession. The Silver State saw 175,000 of its jobs knocked out, had a wobbly unemployment rate of 14 percent. Six years later, Nevada has rallied back and then some. From 2011 to 2017, Nevada has created more than 250,000 jobs and dropped its unemployment rate to a mere 4 percent.

KRNV news –

 First blockchain conference in Nevada: For the first time in Nevada tech giants, investors, policy makers and thought leaders in the blockchain world are meeting to determine the next steps in creating a blockchain-friendly state in the “Building the New Nevada on Trust Conference.” The conference focuses bringing together key stakeholders to establish a braintrust in the Silver State to hone in on security and transparency in government, policy and tech startups, and to learn about and discuss the potential of this new and innovative technology. Blockchain is neither a product nor a system – instead it’s a concept.

The EPIC Report with actual numbers updated.

Now three years into the five year projections of over 52,400 new jobs, we are ahead of projections as Tesla, Panasonic and Switch continue to ramp up their hiring efforts.  Here are the Actual numbers graphs.

Housing remains a concern, but we are making progress:

The chart below shows the number of permits for new housing units (including apartments and condos) pulled in the past few years, compared to the goal of 6,000 per year  Note that 12 years ago, in 2005, we were over 6,700 permits.  The 6,000 units a year goal just meets the projected demand for housing, so anything short of that adds to the current housing shortage.

Here is the latest RGJ article:  

Greatest Challenge in 2018:

2017 was another great year for economic development.  We again exceeded our jobs numbers adding 29 new companies to the region but more importantly adding 14 new corporate headquarters and 11 of these new companies had an average wage over $30 an hour – one of our new metrics.  However, as we look at the many challenges we face as a region there is one challenge that could derail our economic success and impact on the quality of life for not only our new residents but for our existing residents as well: that is our growing shortage of housing, especially affordable housing.  Here is the full Article.

Prior EDAWN articles, published in the RGJ, are stored on our website.

Here is the link to the library.

Help!!  Taxi-Tops are still available! 

We need your help to clean up our taxi-tops so please consider adding taxi-top advertising to your marketing plan now and in the years ahead. We have 25 taxi-tops available and if we cannot keep the taxi-tops filled with family friendly messages, they will revert to those that are less reflective of the “new” Reno-Sparks. Just $1,000 for the entire year! Contact Tamera Pitts at 775.829.3700 or email pitts@edawn.org.

Business Development

The Business Development team is actively working with 16 committed companies with pending announcements expected in the next 2-6 months and an addition of 2,300+ new jobs.

Here’s a breakdown of the industries:
Manufacturing 31%
Distribution/Ecommerce 25%
Tech/Back office 25%
Aerospace 13%
Data Center  6%

One of our highest priorities is increasing the average wage of new jobs added to the region (goal $53,000).

The combined current average wage (Relocation/BD, Existing Company Expansions, and Start-Ups) for all companies this fiscal YTD is $60,984.

We are also representing five companies at the next GOED Board Meeting for incentives.

Partners

Employees have a skills gap?

Truckee Meadows Community College can help! The Employee Development division helps with retention, updating skills, and helping you keep your competitive edge. Customized Training in Applied Technology from TMCC can help with your training needs. We can deliver custom training in Construction, Electricity, HVAC, Manufacturing, Transportation, Blueprint Reading, Drone Use and Maintenance, Welding, and more! Visit their website at Training.tmcc.edu, or email hmaye@tmcc.edu, or call 775-857-4997.

There are many questions by employers regarding the new drug laws and the impacts in the workplace. 

Timely Testing is offering a free presentation as part of their educational series, addressing Drug Use in the Workplace, featuring Dora Lane, an attorney with Holland and Hart. Please see the attached flyer for information and participation will be on a first come, first served basis, with a limit of 20 attendees. To register, go here.

The Stat Pack is a monthly business e-report, co-authored by Mike PeQueen of HighTower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, with input from Brian Bonnefant of UNR. 

It combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on current issues facing the Nevada economy. The Stat Pack features data and dialogue about the Southern and Northern Nevada economies.  Here is last Friday’s Fact Pack!

Major Investor of the Week

Founded in 1980, Plumas Bank is a full-service community bank dedicated to the communities we serve throughout Northern Nevada and Northeastern California.