Fact Pack! Deepfake Fraud
By Hightower Las Vegas and RCG Economics on April 19, 2024
More on deep fakes in a moment…
Nevada’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points from February to March and now sits at 5.1 percent, per the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s (DETR) March 2024 economic report.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Employment (seasonally adjusted):
- Las Vegas employment increased by 1,700 jobs (0.1%) from February to March, an increase of 33,200 jobs (3.0%) since March 2023.
- Reno employment had an increase of 1,700 jobs (0.6%) from February to March, an increase of 6,100 jobs (2.3%) since March 2023.
- Carson City employment had an increase of 100 jobs (0.3%) from February to March, an increase of 500 jobs (1.6%) since March 2023.
County infomap (click here to see its data points):
As of March 2023
RCG Economics Jobs Flash report (February data):
As of February 2023; Source:
Unemployment
Lowest jobless rates among states in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- North Dakota (2.0 percent)
- South Dakota (2.1 percent)
- Vermont (2.2 percent)
Highest:
- California (5.3 percent)
- Washington, D.C. (5.2 percent)
- Nevada (5.1 percent)
Six states had over-the-month unemployment rate decreases, the largest of which was in Arizona (-0.3 percentage point). Florida had the only rate increase (+0.1 percentage point).
Infomap:
As of March 2024
Three key Nevada metrics in one graph:
As of March 2024
Deep Fakes
Deepfakes are AI-generated videos or audio formats that impersonate politicians or celebrities in order to spread mis- or disinformation or defraud consumers. But how prevalent are they?
A survey by identity verification provider Regula conducted among more than 1,000 experts in fraud detection or prevention from countries including the U.S., UK, France and Germany showed that a sizable chunk of companies in their country were targeted by one of three methods of advanced identity fraud.
- Forty-six percent of respondents said they experienced cases of synthetic identity fraud, where a combination of real and fake identity components, such as a fake social security number and a real name, address and birth date, was used.
- Thirty-seven percent reported seeing voice deepfakes being used. A recent high-profile example was an artificial President Biden robocalling prospective voters in January to dissuade them from voting in the primaries.
- Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they experienced video fraud attempts.
As of January 2023
STEM Pay
Nevada ranks eighth for best paying women’s STEM careers, according to an analysis by bio convergence company CYTENA. The Silver State’s average STEM wage is $128,300, contributing to the fact that Nevada has the third-smallest average gender pay gap among states at $7,500 annually:
As of 2023
Tax Facts
A USA Facts analysis of the top three revenue-generating taxes by state showed Nevada in the top 20 for lowest individual financial burden based on percent of average personal income:
Source: USA Facts As of 2023
(Keep in mind that the above graph does not take into account tax exporting between states or the shifting of taxes between categories, such as the shifting of taxes to tourists and other out-of-state consumers.)
Here’s the interactive USA Facts page with many more comparisons of metrics.
Affordable Housing
A new Bankrate analysis found aspiring homeowners in the West and Northeast need the highest salaries to afford a typical home, on average, whereas house hunters in the South and Midwest can afford a typical home on much lower incomes.
Infomap:
California tops the list ($197,057) followed by:
- Hawaii: $185,829
- District of Columbia: $167,871
- Massachusetts: $162,471
- Washington: $156,814
In Nevada, $111,557 will do the trick.
Mississippi requires the lowest income to afford a home in the U.S. ($63,043), followed by:
- Ohio: $64,071
- Arkansas: $64,714
- Indiana: $65,143
- Kentucky: $65,186
These states saw the biggest jump in income needed to purchase a home between January 2020 and January 2024:
Closed
Here’s a look at March home sales in various major metros including Las Vegas:
Source: Calculated Risk
Manufacturing
Production saw a larger than expected jump in March from February:
As of March 2023
Startup Cities
PitchBook’s venture capital Ecosystem Rankings compare global cities based on metrics related to the size and maturity of their startup networks (an explanation of the methodology is here). San Francisco still rules the VC roost, and is one of four U.S. cities in the top 10:
As of 2023
Notably, 65 percent of the hubs with the highest growth rates are in Europe, though only one European city (Amsterdam) is among the top 20 most developed VC ecosystems. Dubai is the city with the fastest startup growth.
Fast Food
Every major fast food chain has raised prices far more than inflation rates (since 2014):
1%
It now takes a net worth of $5.8 million to be in the top 1 percent for net wealth in the U.S. — up 15 percent from $5.0 million one year ago.
As of Q1 2024
On the Horizon
Mike PeQueen: Since it is still all about inflation, Friday’s release of the PCE Index, the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation, is the number to watch. The market is currently pricing in reduced expectations for interest rate cuts this year. Should this number surprise to the downside, stocks could see relief. Otherwise, not so much.
This week’s MarketWatch calendar:
