You don’t need an economics degree to know that it’s a bad thing when actual economists are projecting flagging job growth, a noticeable dip in sales taxes, and a 7 percent decline in gaming tax revenues.

Since January 2022, Nevada’s labor force has increased from 1.5 million to 1.6 million, a change of about 101,000 people. The number of employed people has grown during the same period by 95,000, while the number of unemployed people has risen by 6,000.

That amount represents a 25 percent increase over what the state was projected to bring in up to this point in the fiscal year, which was about $3.2 billion.

That trend has continued in the 2022 fiscal year, which began on July 1, as year-to-date revenues have outperformed Economic Forum projections by more than $360 million.

The revised forecast is a marked improvement from the Economic Forum’s last revenue forecast from December, when the five-member panel of appointed economists and analysts projected general fund revenues of $8.5 billion over the next two years — down about half a billion dollars from the prior budget cycle. This time, the Forum projected $4.4 billion in the fiscal year that starts in July, and $4.7 billion for the following fiscal year, for a total of $9.1 billion in the next biennium — a $586 million upward revision.