LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For the week ending Feb. 27, initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) totaled 9,208, up 1,699 claims, or 22.6%, compared to the previous week’s total of 7,509 claims, according to finalized data from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR). Through the week ending February 27, there have been a total of 868,186 initial claims filed since the week ending March 14.
Continued claims, which represent the current number of insured unemployed workers filing weekly for unemployment insurance benefits, totaled 72,547 claims, an increase of 913 claims, or 1.3%, from the previous week’s total of 71,634.
Nevada’s Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which provides benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits, saw 56,295 claims filed in the week, a decline of 212 claims from last week’s total of 56,507. The passage of HR 133, Continued Assistance Act, 2021, updated the number of available benefit weeks for the PEUC program. Originally 13 weeks, starting the week ending January 2, claimants may be eligible for up to an additional 11 weeks of PEUC in certain circumstances.
Nevada’s State Extended Benefit (SEB) program currently provides up to 20 weeks of benefits to individuals who have exhausted both their regular and PEUC program benefits. Nevada saw 78,221 claims filed in the week, an increase of 2,078 claims from a week ago.
The insured unemployment rate for the regular UI program, which is the ratio of regular continued claims in a week to the total number of jobs covered by the unemployment insurance system (also known as covered employment), rose to 5.5% from the previous week’s rate of 5.4%. Including claimants in the benefit extension programs, the rate, more appropriately called the extended insured unemployment rate, was 15.6%. 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, which provides benefits for self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers saw 6,740 initial claims filed in the week ending February 27, an increase of 327 claims, or 5.1%, from last week’s total of 6,413. Initial applications for the PUA program continue to be highly variable due to ongoing high levels of fraudulent applications. Through the week ending February 27, there have been a total of 1,093,697 PUA initial claims filed.
There were 79,600 PUA continued claims filed in the week ending February 27, a decrease of 14,542 claims, or 15.4%, from the previous week’s revised total of 94,142.
To file for regular unemployment in the State of Nevada, please use the online application available 24/7 at http://ui.nv.gov/css.html. People unable to file online may file via telephone by calling a UI Claims Call Center between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Northern UI Call Center: (775) 684-0350; Southern UI Call Center: (702) 486-0350; Rural areas and Out-of-State: (888) 890-8211. Claimants are encouraged to use the internet to file their UI claims, as it is the fastest and most convenient way to file and reserves the phone lines for individuals who are not able to file online. Online filing during non-peak hours, such as early mornings, at night or weekends is also highly recommended. To continue to receive benefits, claimants must file weekly.
