Education and health services are the fastest-growing industries in the Las Vegas Valley in the past decade, according to new data.
Approximately 39,000 jobs were created in education and health services in the valley over the past decade through 2025, beating out trade, transportation and utilities (37,2000), according to new statistics from the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Leisure and hospitality came in sixth with only 19,000 jobs added, and Assemblymember Dr. Rebecca Edgeworth, a Republican from District 35 in Clark County, who is also an internal medicine specialist, said this is a clear sign as to where the local economy is headed in the future.
“Why would somebody move here if they think they can’t get good health care … I think when we only had 280,000 people here when I was a kid, it was OK with having the economy be all about gaming and mining,” she said. “But I don’t think that’s where we are now, and I think that health care plays a huge part in diversifying the economy because who in the world would want to start a business in an area where the medical care isn’t accessible and excellent?”
Nevada and Las Vegas have both long scored poorly nationwide regarding health care services, doctor and nurse shortages and overall quality of care, and residents were recently ranked as some of the least healthiest in the country. The Commonwealth Fund ranked Nevada 46th out of 50 states for state health system performance in its latest report, largely due to a high level of uninsured adults (15 percent), a high level of premature avoidable deaths and potentially avoidable deaths for those ages 65 and over.
“I feel like Las Vegas didn’t keep up with its medical infrastructure across the whole valley since I was a kid,” said Edgeworth about the lack of health care facilities per capita in the valley. “And now we have 2.4 million people here and we just didn’t keep up with doctors and hospital and training medical personnel.”
Danielle Casey, president and CEO of the LVGEA, echoed Edgeworth’s statement, noting that as Southern Nevada continues to expand beyond tourism into growing areas such as advanced manufacturing, technology and logistics, the expectations for health care access and educational quality rise as well.
“National surveys from groups like the Site Selectors Guild and Area Development consistently show that workforce availability and quality-of-life factors, including health care access and strong schools, are among the top considerations for companies choosing where to invest,” she said in an email response to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Strengthening those assets helps us retain graduates, attract skilled professionals, and support long-term economic resilience.”
One company betting big on Las Vegas is Intermountain Health, which unveiled plans for Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital last year which is scheduled to start construction this year.
The 200-bed hospital will be located within UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, and the nonprofit medical system has expanded its footprint in the valley by buying land and commercial buildings, starting construction on a medical office complex and signing a naming-rights deal for the Raiders’ practice facility.
Last year, Gov. Joe Lombardo’s sprawling health care reform bill died after it failed to receive enough votes in the Assembly, despite the Senate passing it.
UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine graduated its charter class of doctors in 2021 and Edgeworth said this is part of the problem that can hopefully become part of the solution. Edgeworth teaches at Touro University of Nevada and said keeping home grown doctors is a big issue that needs to be addressed.
“It breaks my heart sometimes to help train the next generation of doctors and see them graduate and head off somewhere else,” she said. “And I have a bill that I am going to reintroduce that focuses on helping Nevada health care workers trained in Nevada to stay in Nevada.”
Edgeworth said if the sector can continue to expand she thinks it will be a rising tide that will lift all boats regarding health care deliveries in the valley.
“A lot of the people say the medical care here in Las Vegas is bad, and I would say we just don’t have enough of it,” she added.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
