Thread: Joblessness in some parts of Vegas exceeds 20%...

FT.com

August 31, 2011 2:33 pm

Poverty crisis in US gambling paradise

By Matthew Garrahan in Las Vegas
Video at the link:

The first people arrived when it was still dark and by 7.30am more than 150 of them were queuing outside the church in north-east Las Vegas, waiting for the food bank truck to unload its cargo of fruit, vegetables and tinned goods.

The crowd was predominantly Latino and African American: many of them elderly, the rest women with young children. With the temperature approaching 35C (95F), most sought refuge in the shade. Some fanned themselves with baseball caps or carried umbrellas to protect themselves from the desert sun

Debate is raging in Washington about how to bring jobs back, with President Barack Obama to outline a new plan before a joint session of Congress on September 7. But in Las Vegas, the tourist town and gambling paradise, an alarming number of people are focused on where their next meal will come from.

Nevada leads the US in unemployment – 12.4 per cent of its working population have no job – and in mortgage foreclosures, which has sparked a poverty crisis. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/05da3354 ... z1WR0wsZyZ The state has the highest rate of children whose parents are unemployed, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It also has a larger proportion of children affected by foreclosures than anywhere else in the US: about 13 per cent of all children in Nevada have been evicted from their homes with their families.

Many of those in line outside the Living Faith Assembly church had been out of work for more than two years. Deanna Hudson lost her job in 2009 as a human resources manager for a company that made slot machines and has spent the past two years looking for a job, to no avail. “Everyone is trying to get back to work. You’ve got one position and maybe 20, 30 people applying, so it’s hard. I have to come here just to get food.â€

Reid must be so pleased with his "accomplishment".