That is the starting rate in much of Las Vegas and I doubt that even Starbucks pays that much (here or anywhere).

I suppose if you have a 4 year degree or more, an MCSE or CCNA and a great personality, you could make more money. Las Vegas is a tough job market right now, in my opinion, probably because it is growing fast and there a high number of new and unknown residents. I was told Las Vegas companies rarely hire people from outside the area, and in the year I have been here I have seen nothing to dispel that rumor. Unless you get transferred into the area with a major company like my neighbor across the street, or you are a skilled construction tradesperson, you will be starting on the lower rungs of the Las Vegas economy.

Anyone familiar with the area knows cocktail servers, entertainers and show people are what Las Vegas is all about. The "high technology" going on behind the scenes is apparently not all that sophisticated from what I can tell. Just like a magic show or a large scale stage production, the amazing look of Las Vegas is mostly achieved with facades and special lighting.

My wife and I often ask each other where the people buying $600,000+ homes and luxury condos are getting their money. And just today she made note of a lady that earns $2,400 every two weeks but still has to take a "Pay Day" loan from one of Las Vegas' many 7-11-style payday / cash advance stores. For anyone that has not been to Las Vegas, we have these stores on practically every street corner, so many in fact that the city of North Las Vegas recently placed restrictions on the building of new loan stores.

Maybe some of the necessity for this is due to the gambling and maybe some is due to the high price of gas, but we sure do have a lot of people scraping to make ends meet.

It is one thing when YOU know you are worth more than you are being paid, but then having an employer tell you the services you provide save them 10 times the expense of a field service technician on-site visit, well that just hurts! The only hope I have is that if what they said is true, my salary will go up because their overall expenses will go down. I'm not holding my breath until it happens though.