LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you drive around our valley, you’ll likely see cones and construction at some point, but a new nationwide report suggests construction jobs are dropping in the Silver State.
So, I went to find out what’s going on and how that report stacks up here in the valley.
VIDEO: Ryan Ketcham talks to locals about construction jobs in the valley
Construction jobs drop statewide. Locals in the field say impacts not prevalent in the valley
“We haven’t seen that, in fact our business is steady,” said Compass Development President Mike Shohet.
Shohet described Compass Development as “a commercial project management firm for the most part, so we execute real estate development projects for clients as well as our own portfolio,” said Shohet. “We build every product type except for single-family residential, so office buildings, medical office, retail, industrial and multi-family and hospitality.”
He tells me that side of the construction industry is booming and the local Laborers Union agrees.
“I just don’t see a downturn in the construction we do,” said Business Manager and Secretary Treasurer at Laborer’s International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 872 Tommy White.
So when a new report from the AGC of America, known as America’s leading construction association put out this report, he was shocked.
The report analyzed the construction job employment status for every state and Washington, D.C.
It shows a breakdown of the number of construction jobs each state had in August 2024, July 2025 and August 2025. The report shows how much each state has changed over the past year and over the last month.
Here’s what the report found about Nevada:
- Construction jobs in Nevada:
- August 2024: 110,600 jobs
- July 2025: 107,900 jobs
- August 2025: 103,500 jobs
- Over the past month from July 2025 to August 2025, 4,400 or 4.1% of statewide construction jobs were dropped.
- That is ranked the worst among all states during the same time frame.
- Over the past year, from August 2024 – August 2025, 7,100 or 6.4% of statewide construction jobs were dropped
- The number of jobs dropped ranked 47th in the nation, and the percentage of jobs lost ranked last nationwide during the same time frame.
“I don’t agree with these numbers, and these numbers do not cause me any type of concern in construction in Las Vegas,” said White.
White says most of his workers have jobs.
“We have just close to 4,000 members in this local, and we have about 280 on our out-of-work list,” said White.
He tells me there’s plenty of commercial construction opportunities with roadwork, casino projects, the ballpark being built for the Athletics and even the Brightline West high-speed train.
Shohet and White say the drop could be from residential construction, though.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the loss in jobs that we’re seeing is in the home-building sector. Home building has certainly slowed, less housing starts, fewer permits drawn,” said Shohet.
According to the latest Las Vegas Association of Realtors housing numbers in August 2025, there are 9,474 homes listed, 7,206 homes listed without an offer and 3,192 new listings.
All of these numbers have mostly risen every month this year. Real estate experts telling Channel 13 that means the inventory of available homes just continues to grow.
Shohet believes more people need to buy homes, and the inventory has to decrease before we see a substantial change. He’s hopeful that this may happen as mortgage rates are dropping in the later part of this year.
Another reason White and Shohet say numbers may show such a large drop is because the report is on Nevada as a whole, so the loss of construction jobs could also be more prevalent elsewhere outside of the valley.
White tells me one concern the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters last week, after dropping interest rates a quarter of a percentage point, is the supply and demand of jobs dropping.
He attributed the drop to immigration and tariff impacts, but White tells me he doesn’t believe it’s been a large factor in the valley’s construction industry.
“We haven’t had any trouble with ICE coming to this union,” said White.
White tells me he expects construction jobs will actually increase soon locally as Formula 1 and other large construction projects continue.
