Construction experts predicted that labor issues would be the top issue for the industry, reports the Reno Gazette-Journal. At a meeting up north, the Associated General Contractors Economist Ken Simonson told the AGC Outlook, “(Nevada) is on the leading edge of trying to get new employees and keeping them.”

And the downside is that labor shortages look likely to continue and could get worse, especially in skilled trades. Hugh Rice, chairman of Raleigh, N.C.-based FMI Corp, said that retirement of the baby boom generation, the shortage of educated workers, rising demand, alternative career paths and an outdated industry culture were all to blame. He suggested legal migration from Asia and Latin America could solve the problem.

As talk gathers of softening in the residential real estate market, Nevada State Bank President Bill Martin is predicting a soft landing as prices slow. “Vegas has a chance of declining more than Reno,” Martin told the gathering. “I think the median price there has already fallen about 1 percent. But is there a bubble? I think as long as people still want to live in Nevada, there isn’t one.”