Las Vegas approaching poverty crisis?

John Blaise
August 31, 2011
2 Comments

vegas home for saleAs President Obama prepares to unveil a job plan that will likely determine his re-election, the gambling Mecca of the United States is seeing a record number of people unemployed and according to many reports, wondering where their next meal will come from.

Nevada, more than any state, will be interested to hear the president’s plan as it leads the US in unemployment with 12.4 percent of its working population jobless. Nevada is also at the top of the list in mortgage foreclosures and has the highest rate of children whose parents are unemployed.

Even the once thought recession proof gambling industry has seen a dip in profits.

Are we talking poverty crisis?

Brian Burton, president of Three Square, the Nevada-based non-profit food bank, seems to think so.

“Las Vegas has gone from having the lowest unemployment in the nation at 4 per cent to the highest,” says Brian Burton, president of Three Square, the Nevada-based non-profit food bank. “We are number one in foreclosures, number one in bankruptcies, number one in unemployment [and] we have 300,000 people that are worried about where their next meal is going to come from.” – Financial Times

Unemployment in some parts of Las Vegas is running at more than 20 per cent, he adds. “One in five children is now affected by hunger. That’s a very disturbing and agonising thought… Las Vegas is really ground zero for the economy we are in right now.” – Financial Times

If you have any further information related to this story that you would like to share with us privately please click here.

Can't get enough CalvinAyre.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, then you'll never miss out on the latest gaming industry news.

Share
Tags: Article, Las Vegas, Las Vegas economy, Nevada unemployment
Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com
  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/09/01/lifestyle/slain-marine-sends-friends-to-vegas-in-style/ lifestyle news: Slain marine sends friends to Vegas in style

    [...] (100,000 pounds) to be left for his military and civilian buddies and their girlfriends to go to Las Vegas in [...]

  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/10/06/lifestyle/whats-your-vegas-tag-line/ lifestyle news: What’s your Las Vegas tag line?

    [...] The slogan reads “Down Town Vegas”-and a tag line is supposed to follow. Given the high unemployment rates in the state, it might read “Downtown Las Vegas– where unemployment happens.” [...]