3 Popular Vegas Careers Have The Highest Turnover Rate In U.S.

Locals know that the most popular Vegas careers are in three of our main industries: hospitality, food service and, most recently, construction. But the last few years have shown they're also the jobs people are quitting the most often. Job experts recently released a study that showed the rate at which people are leaving these jobs. And speculated as the potential reasons for why people keep jumping ship.

The research was done by a team of data analysts at PsychologyJobs.com. They collected data pertaining to employee turnover rates across the country in various job industries. What they found was that while all industries have some level of turnover, there were specific career fields that saw a huge numbers compared to others. Here's what the study revealed.

The highest turnover rates were seen in jobs in the accommodation and food services industries. AKA two of the biggest industries for work in the Southern Nevada valley. These are the Vegas careers people find in our local hotels and restaurants as well as those in surrounding areas. According to the study, 1,418,000 workers left these jobs between March 2023 and March 2024 in the United States. The experts didn't speculate on the reason people might be leaving these jobs. But if you've ever worked in these fields, you know they can be pretty challenging.

Related: Nevada Jobs That Pay Highest Compared To Other States

The second-highest rates of turnover were seen in the hospitality and leisure jobs. A lot of which crossover into the first category. The study reported that 928,000 workers in these fields quit their jobs between March 2023 and March 2024 in the U.S. Again, there wasn't a clear reason for their leaving. However, increases in cost of living in the country combined with these fields being very dependent on tips could be a reason. Or the same inflation could be contributing to people spending less on leisurely activities.

The aforementioned industries saw a combined turnover of over 2,300,000 employees in just one year. The turnover rate of other industries didn't even compare. Although other industries did see their share of employees quitting. Including another field that has recently become a big supplier of Vegas careers for locals.

With the rapid rate at which the city is growing, Vegas careers in the construction industry are becoming more and more available. However, this is also a career field that's seeing high turnover rates. According to the study, 788,000 workers left jobs the construction industry between March 2023 and March 2024. Reasons people might be quitting include the housing market seeing a boom that puts workers more in demand, making it a competitive career field. Employers are having a hard time in some cities retaining employees with other cities offering more compensation.

The good news is that Vegas careers in these fields probably aren't hard to come by right now. Advice to those looking for jobs in these industries is to negotiate a decent salary or an increase in pay after you've proven your loyalty for a preset amount of time. Because it sounds like employers might be willing to pay a little extra to those who stick around for awhile.

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Let's face it: The economy is a little delicate right now. It seems that the cost of items is increasing, it's harder to take vacations and things just seem economically stagnant. You may be looking for a career change or possible other jobs in Las Vegas.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings plummeted in April, equating to be the lowest level in three years.

From this statistic, it seems that the job market is definitely becoming more competitive. And according to the Washington Post, "Hiring is slowing, especially for recent graduates, with coveted white-collar employers pulling back on new postings."

 We don't want this bleak forecast on the labor market to scare you. Even in times of recession, there is opportunity for economic growth. Along with that, Nevada's economic data is showing a positive growth in regards to some economic indicators. The Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development reports a growth in the state's gross domestic product (GDP), median household income and labor force employment in 2023.

But, this doesn't take away from our unemployment rate. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada's unemployment rate in April 2024 was 5.1%. In comparison to the rest of the country, that's one of the highest unemployment rates.

We're basically right behind California, which has a 5.3% unemployment rate during the same data period.

An online financial publication called CPA Practice Advisor reported and interviewed David Schmidt, the chief economist at the State of Nevada Department of Employment, Training, & Rehabilitation, which is a state workforce development agency.

Schmidt said we have more people who are "entering the labor market, or re-entering the labor market, or voluntarily left their last job as opposed to people who lost it."

Although inflation does feel suffocating, wage gains have seemed to benefit hospitality workers, and these gains "have outpaced inflation," CPA Practice Advisor Reports.

During Covid-19, the state of Nevada created a "Workforce Blueprint." This would be a resource for civilians to see the most hottest and needed jobs in Southern Nevada.

According to the report, "One of the more crucial impacts has been the destabilization of the region’s leisure and hospitality sector that, while positively recovering from the height of the pandemic, is expected to see sustained and possibly permanent job losses in the tens of thousands."

Due to this, the state -- along with other agencies -- decided to get together and analyze date. This data would help uncover the most in-demand jobs that skilled and technical workers are needed in. Scroll down below to see the top five.

Click here for the entire list and data.

The fifth most in-demand career in Las Vegas with a positive job growth is a veterinarian. From our guess, the growing population in Las Vegas also means an explosion in dogs, cats, etc. Most likely, there hasn't been an equal growth of veterinarian clinics to suffice the need of the exploding population.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also said that, "Employment of veterinarians is projected to grow 20 percent from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all occupations." So, it seems that getting your foot into the door by working as a vet tech would help this career step. The average wage for a vet is around $119,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics further reports.

This one slightly confused us when we saw it on the list. But, once we read the data -- it became more clear.

The data from our state says, "Managers, All Other (11-9199) and General and Operations Managers (11-1021) indicates the business and financial services industry cluster continues to remain a significant focal area of the Southern Nevada regional economy."

The term "Manager and All Others," is actually a classification under the U.S. labor and tax system. The main industries that use this job classification are federal, state and local governments, management of companies and enterprises, management, scientific, and technical consulting services, the U.S. labor data reports.

Civil engineering is a broad term. But, it usually means that you work with local infrastructures like roads, bridges, dams, etc. Again, the growing population has created a need for this job. As more developers build residential and commercial areas, there will be a need for civil engineers.

On Linkedin, there are a few openings for civil engineers. The growth rate for civil engineers is about 5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

With the rise of e-commerce, a majority of our digital ecosystem has transferred to be online. This job entails being a quality assurance analysts. Along with that, you often test computer systems and designs, the U.S. labor bureau reports. The 10 year growth is projected to be around 25%, which is a very promising number.

A software developer is constantly listed as one of the "top-earning" jobs in tech. With the need of cloud services, more manufacturing and commerce in Las Vegas, we'll need people who can develop applications and software that can accommodate our needs. If you've ever had a bug in your software then you know how irritating they can be. It often causes the software to act unexpectedly and incorrectly. Software developers are crucial to help ameliorate these problems.

According to Learn.org, "An application developer creates or writes programs for a particular operating system (i.e, Windows, Mac OS X or UNIX), the web or a device." It's basically similar to the software developing job listed above. It constantly remains as one of the most in-demand jobs across the country. 

An application developer usually starts the project, outlines the program's input and output and then codes. Once the developer codes, they often run tests and add the magic finishes, Learn.org further states.

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