Business As Usual On The Strip

Jacob Murphy stands beneath a jumbo screen sporting President Bush's Wednesday night speech and drops $2 on an exacta for the sixth race at the Meadowlands.

Bush is focused on more important issues than Murphy's wager, and Murphy cares little about the speech.

The Arizona State University senior figures the conflict will play out in America's favor. Besides, he's on spring break, looking to win some quick money from Bellagio's sports book.

"I'm not really worried about this," Murphy says. "They have whole TV stations dedicated to the war on Iraq. It's like a TV show."

People continue to bet $25 a hand on Bellagio's blackjack tables. Ravenous fanny-packers return for thirds at the buffet. Trendy martinis are swilled in the megaresort's chic lounges.

Jake Barnes eyes the Bush speech from a plush chair in the Bellagio's sports book. National Basketball Association games in Phoenix and New Orleans have been halted while the president speaks.

"I'm surprised they stopped the NBA games. If it's just up to me, I'd have Israeli special forces assassinate Saddam," says Barnes, who has bet $360 to win $300 on the Knicks and Blazers games.

Slot floorperson Jiraporn Vichanarong leans against a chair, worried about the economic impact of the war. She recalls the citywide layoffs that saw an estimated 15,000 workers lose their jobs because of the domestic travel plunge that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"I don't want to have the war. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs," says the Thai native. "I think everybody is worried."

A pit crew sets up blackjack tables near the sports book entrance. Wednesday evening is typically slower than other nights of the week for Bellagio's casino. There's little of the weekend rush, and Cirque du Soleil's "O" show is dark.

Francine Stigliano's been dealing blackjack at MGM Mirage properties for 14 years, and the 52-year-old Las Vegan sounds like a mouthpiece for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"Let's face it. We're at war, but do people want to stay home and mope about it or do they want to get out and keep up their lives?" Stigliano asks. "We're indomitable here. This is an international town and people are going to come here."

"No, I don't think there's anything here they're interested in," she says. "There's nothing political. To them this is just a big American playground."

On the Strip, singers, dancers and comedians answer the call

Comic Mitchell Walters even works U.S.-Iraq conflict into his act

By MIKE WEATHERFORD and DOUG ELFMAN
The Las Vegas Review-Journal
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The line for the Comedy Stop at the Tropicana formed on a mezzanine above a lounge, where CNN boomed war news from an overhead screen.
"The bar is empty but up here it's packed," comedian Mitchell Walters said in the backstage green room.
The war didn't lead to the cancellation of a single production show, singer's showcase, magic production, comedy act or music concert at any of the 23 hotels contacted by the Review-Journal after President Bush announced the war.
Bush's speech, just 45 minutes before showtime, didn't even force Walters to change the same opening joke he used Tuesday, he said, before facing a crowd that was packed to within a few tables and trying it out:
"I just came from the sports book. I took USA over Iraq in under three days.
"It's kind of scary, but it'll be all right," he added, then tried out a couple of more war-related lines, "We'll show 'em what March madness is all about," before moving into his regular material.
"The corner is turned right now. They're a regular crowd," fellow New York-based comic Bruce Smirnoff proclaimed in the green room a few minutes later.
"We can smell the energy, a lot of tension," he added. "There's even some guilt: What are we doing in a comedy club when news is breaking at this moment?
"But you have to address it," he said. "It's obvious and they want you to. And then they want you to take them to another place."
Rita Rudner served a similar escapist role at New York-New York. So did "Chippendales: The Show" at the Rio, and the English synthesizer-pop band Erasure at the Hard Rock Hotel. Even "Country Kickin'," a dance club country show in Laughlin, went on as scheduled at 7:30 p.m. at Riverside, right after Bush's address.
In fact, at the Flamingo, where the Amazing Johnathan and Gladys Knight performed, business was actually up.
"Gladys Knight was on television last night, and we've got people from all over the country calling and booking in advance" for April and May, said a ticket agent who asked not to be named.
At the Stratosphere, "Viva Las Vegas" grooved on, as did the hotel's "American Superstars," in which impersonators performed patriotic tributes in lieu of the real Charlie Daniels and Lee Greenwood.
"It's like any other night. But they might not know what's going on," Stratosphere reservation associate Vicki Stevens said of customers, "unless they went to their rooms or happened to hear about it."

Yeah, but was anyone laid off??

Study: Hiring outlook sluggish for Las Vegas

More companies expect staff cuts than additions

By MATTHEW CROWLEY
The Las Vegas Review-Journal
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The misery for out-of-work Southern Nevadans seeking permanent jobs may continue a while longer, a recent study suggests.
Manpower's recently released second-quarter hiring outlook shows 7 percent of Las Vegas companies surveyed expect to cut their staffs in the April-though-June period; just 3 percent expect to add staff. Ninety percent expect no staff changes.
The hiring outlook was brighter in Reno, where 17 percent of companies surveyed expect to add staff, 7 percent expect to cut staff and 66 percent plan no change.
The Nevada data come from a national Manpower survey based on telephone interviews with 16,000 public and private employers in 47 markets. Nationally, Manpower said, 22 percent expect to add to their staffs, up 2 percent from a quarter ago. Nine percent expect to cut staffs.
Dawn Hathaway, vice president of Manpower of Southern Nevada, said the numbers seem to send a mixed message.
"It could be that we're looking at a normal hitch in the economic recovery cycle, or a response to what's happening politically, with the possibility of war in Iraq," Hathaway said. "But in the worse-case scenario, it could signal more difficulties ahead."
Manpower said it foresees job cuts in construction, wholesale and retail-trade. It foresees little staff-size change for other industries.
If Manpower's data were somewhat dour, forecasts from Menlo Park, Calif.-staffing company Robert Half International were mixed.
On the bright side for job seekers, Robert Half Technology, a Robert Half International unit, said its Information Technology Hiring Forecast showed 9 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) surveyed nationwide expect to add information technology staff and 5 percent foresee staff cuts. Eighty-six percent expected no changes.
The outlook for Robert Half's Mountain region, which includes Nevada, matches the national figure: 9 percent expect to add, five expect to subtract. The national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 workers or more.
But Las Vegas-based Robert Half Technology branch manager Brian Gabrielson reported strong local tech-hiring demand. He said the difficult economy may make IT hires more attractive to local companies.
"If there's technology that can make processes run better and faster and save money, companies want to hear about it," he said. Even if people struggle to find permanent work, they may have better luck finding temporary work, the American Staffing Association suggests. In a survey released last week, the group said fourth-quarter average daily employment was 2.2 million, steady compared with the third quarter, but up 0.3 percent from the fourth period a year ago. Temporary-help revenue increased to $14.5 billion in the fourth quarter, up 7.2 percent from a year ago.
In 2002, the association said, U.S. annual temporary help services sales totaled $55.2 billion, 1.8 percent less than in 2001. However, between 2000 and 2001, staffing industry revenue had fallen by 11.7 percent. "Staffing companies held their ground and continued to match millions of people to millions of jobs last year, even in a very fragile economy," association President Richard Wahlquist said in a statement.
Keith Schwer, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Center for Business and Economic Research, said the Manpower survey for Las Vegas was consistent with a difficult national employment market.
"This really reflects what we've been saying all along: that the economy would be weak in the year's first half," Schwer said.
Schwer said the growing use of temps suggested by the American Staffing Association may well illustrate the economy's current hanging-on-tenterhooks feeling.
"Temps represent the flywheel of things that are going along," he said. "That people are using more temps may reflect that they're not willing to hire people permanently and are instead taking a wait-and-see position."

Related article: State jobless rate reaches 5 percent

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.