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One of the most popular online travel sites is working to create Las Vegas jobs (Click here).

Expedia, Inc. was planning to hire 130 employees at the company's Las Vegas operations by the end of June, increasing the company's local workforce to 500 employees. Many of the operational functions of the company's travel brands - including Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Egencia - are supported through the Las Vegas office.

The majority of the new positions will be for travel agents and support staff to serve Egencia, the corporate travel department of Expedia, which offers corporate travel accounts for companies throughout the world.

"Extending our service network into Las Vegas is a key part of our strategy and ability to support clients worldwide," Noah Tratt, vice president of Egencia Americas, said. "Egencia has been pleased with the wealth of talent and experience in Nevada. We are looking forward to expanding our service center here and bringing jobs to the area."

Officials say Expedia will benefit from incentives offered under the new Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, which is meant to create or restore jobs for previously unemployed workers.

"Expedia has long been a partner of the Las Vegas travel and tourism industry, and we are pleased to be able to add jobs in this community," Michael Reichartz, Las Vegas-based vice president of market management for Expedia, said.

"This expansion means new jobs for 130 Nevadans and we are hopeful for further growth, which is always something to celebrate," he continued. "We applaud Senator (Harry) Reid for his leadership in passing the HIRE Act, which has assisted us with this expansion."

Labels: Las Vegas jobs

Unemployed workers haven't had a lot of luck finding Las Vegas jobs lately, but a new mega development project slated to open in December could turn that around.

MGM Mirage recently issued what it is calling the "single biggest hiring opportunity in the history of the U.S." The company plans to hire 12,000 employees to work at CityCenter, an $8.5 billion complex of shops, condos, boutique hotels, restaurants and casinos scheduled to open at the end of this year.

As of September 20, CityCenter had already received 160,000 applications for the 12,000 available jobs. Of the available positions, 4,000 have been offered to current MGM employees.

"This concentration of new jobs is not happening anywhere else in the U.S.," MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren told SmartBrief. "To have it happen [in Las Vegas] will have a profound effect."

According to various reports, the 12,000 employees to be hired will include 4,280 food and beverage servers, including 165 master cooks; 1,300 casino workers, including dealers and slot operators; 1,200 hotel employees; 130 massage therapists and manicurists; and 130 responsible for handling lighting, props and other functions for the Cirque du Soleil.

The project, described as a 67-acre city within a city, will include an electric CityCenter Tram and an 8.5 megawatt co-generation plant. Properties within CityCenter expected to hire include the Vdara Hotel, the Mandarin Oriental non-gaming hotel, the Aria Resort and Casino and the Crystals, a retail and dining district.

There's no denying that Las Vegas could certainly benefit from the abundance of jobs CityCenter is offering. The city has seen its unemployment rate grow as jobs continue to be lost and as the gaming and real estate industries continue to decline.

During August, the Las Vegas-Paradise area saw its unemployment rate increase from 13.1 percent to 13.4 percent, which was higher than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.7 percent. The area has not seen its unemployment rate decrease since April 2008, when it went from 5.2 percent to 5 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 846,900 workers during August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 851,800 workers during July and a 6.7 percent decrease from last year.

Labels: Las Vegas jobs