Delivery, cleaning services see boost

Consumer fear over the spread of the coronavirus has lifted sales for same-day grocery delivery services such as Instacart and Las Vegas-based home cleaning service

Superb Maids.

Instacart said Tuesday it saw its growth rate surge by 10 times over the past three days while business in California, Washington, Oregon and New York surged by 20 times. The company operates the same-day grocery delivery service for retailers such as Costco, Sprouts, CVS and Sam’s Club.

“Over the last few days, we’ve seen a surge in customer demand for pantry items such as powdered milk and canned goods, as well as personal care products like hand sanitizer and vitamins,” the company said in a statement.

“We remain fully operational across North America and our goal is to continue to serve our community safely while also ensuring our customers have access to

Nevada gained 22,800 jobs over the past year, the department said.

With the bulk of its population in the Las Vegas area, Nevada suffered steep job losses during the recession but has steadily climbed back.

Competition for the “diminishing pool of unemployed job seekers” should continue to help push up wages and expand opportunities “for anyone looking to enter the job market or pursue a better career,” DETR chief economist David Schmidt said in a prepared statement.

Statewide, employment grew in numerous industries over the past year. Professional and business

services added an estimated 9,700 jobs, construction tacked on 4,400, government grew by 3,700 and education and health services added 3,100, according to seasonally adjusted figures from DETR.

The U.S. unemployment rate in January also was 3.6 percent. That month, there was “no longer a gap” between Nevada’s jobless rate and the nation’s for the first time since July 2007, Schmidt said.

When the real estate bubble burst last decade, and the U.S. fell into the worst recession in decades, Nevada’s jobless rate skyrocketed, reaching a peak of 13.7 percent in 2010, federal data show.

Things have steadily improved since. According to DETR, Nevada has posted 109 consecutive months — or more than nine years — of

year-over-year job gains.

Officials have worked for years to diversify Nevada’s economy with new types of employers, and Las Vegas — ground zero for America’s real estate boom and bust — isn’t nearly as dependent on construction as it used to be.

But overall, the local economy remains heavily dependent on hotel-casinos.

About 29 percent of Clark County’s labor pool worked in leisure and hospitality as of October, the same rate as in October 2006, before the economy tanked, Las Vegas consulting firm RCG Economics previously reported.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.