UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research reported today that the August Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators was essentially flat growing by only .04 percent over last month. After seasonal adjustment and weighting, none of the ten component series that make up the index had a large positive or negative influence on the index. Essentially, this suggests that all indicators are saying the same thing, aggregate employment growth in the next four to six months will be essentially flat.
From another perspective, looking at the data on an annual percent change, the August value came in at a negative .54 percent. Even though it is negative, not since December of 2007 has that value been less negative. This trend is encouraging but it is still too soon to draw any firm conclusions. First the index must show sustained positive growth before we can expect the same with employment.
| CLARK COUNTY SERIES | DATE | UNITS | LATEST PERIOD | CHANGE PREVIOUS PERIOD | CHANGE YEAR AGO | CONTRIBUTION TO INDEX* |
| Residential Building Units Permitted | June-10 | # Units Permitted | 609 | 41.96% | -31.50% | -0.030% |
| Residential Building Permit Valuation | June-10 | Dollars | $63,342,013 | 35.08% | -18.23% | -0.037% |
| Commercial Building Permits | June-10 | # Units Permitted | 24 | -7.69% | -4.00% | 0.048% |
| Commercial Building Permit Valuation | June-10 | Dollars | $48,526,125 | 1346.51% | 134.63% | -0.008% |
| Taxable Sales | June-10 | Dollars | $2,426,856,589 | 3.89% | -0.97% | -0.009% |
| McCarran Airport | June-10 | Passengers Enplaned/Deplaned | 3,400,550 | -2.17% | -1.06% | -0.014% |
| Gallons of Gasoline | June-10 | Thousand Gallons | 63,072,217 | -1.80% | 0.93% | 0.040% |
| Gross Gaming Revenue | June-10 | Dollars | $640,096,466 | -10.43% | -6.91% | 0.019% |
| Visitor Volume | June-10 | People | 3,106,965 | -4.78% | 4.26% | 0.027% |
| Conventions Held Attendance | June-10 | People | 351,731.00 | -0.18% | -1.04% | 0.00% |
| Overall Change in Leading Indicator** | August-10 | 0.0 | 125.34 | 0.04% | -0.54% | 0.04% |