NEVADA (KTNV) — Nevada's unemployment office says it has seen an increase in regular unemployment insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance initial claims during the ongoing pandemic.
Data from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) showed initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) totaled 11,110 for the week ending June 27 - up 763 claims, or 7.4 percent, compared to last week's total of 10,347.
DETR says this was the first week-over-week increase in regular initial claims since April 25. However, through June 27, the office has seen 550,002 initial claims filed so far this year, with 528,350 filed since March 14.
Continued claims, which represent the current number of insured unemployed workers filing weekly for unemployment insurance benefits, fell to 286,943 - a decline from the previous week of 7,706 claims, or 2.6 percent.
Nevadans continue to face unemployment issues; class-action lawsuit moves forward
These current numbers represent the sixth consecutive week, where the total number of continued claims has fallen from the previous week, according to DETR.
Nevada's insured unemployment rate, which is the ratio of continued claims in a week to the total number of jobs covered by the unemployment insurance system (also known as covered employment), fell 0.5 percentage points to 20.8 percent.
DETR says it should be noted that the calculation of the insured unemployment rate is different from that of the state's total unemployment rate.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program for the self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers saw 69,144 initial claims filed in the week - an increase of 39,704 from last week's total of 29,440.
Given the underlying economic conditions, this is a questionable increase, according to the unemployment office, with PUA continued claims totaling 165,233 in the week ending June 27 - a decline of 14,554 from the previous week's revised total of 179,787.
Weekly PUA continued claims are currently being reported by the benefit week claimed and better represents the number of claimants filing by week.
PUA claimant: 'I feel let down,' Nevadans, 13 Action News seek answers on unpaid unemployment
Nevada's Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides up to 13 weeks of benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits, saw 8,561 claims filed in the week - an increase of 744 from a week ago.
Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted regular initial claims was 1,427,000 - a decline of 55,000 claims from the previous week's revised level of 1,482,000.
The national insured unemployment rate for the week ending June 20 was 13.2 percent, unchanged from the previous week's revised rate, and is reported with a one-week lag.
