This week, we’re conducting interviews in Las Vegas, which has an unemployment rate of 15.1 percent, among the highest  rates for U.S. metropolitan areas.  Statewide, Nevada’s unemployment rate is 14.4 percent, highest of all 50 states.

We started our interviews Monday morning at the Nevada JobConnect in Las Vegas.  The office was jammed with job seekers, waiting to speak with counselors, scanning the computer printouts of job listings tacked to the walls and lining up to use the site’s computers, fax machines and copiers.

The office staff, clearly overwhelmed by the number of unemployed while coping with state budget cutbacks, could not have been more helpful to us and allowed us to use a conference room to conduct several interviews for Over 50 and Out of Work.  Thank you, Nevada JobConnect!

Thus far, we’ve interviewed a laid-off car salesman, a food services worker,  a bartender,  a carpenter and a customer service agent for the airline industry.   We have more video interviews scheduled for today and tomorrow, including the mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman.