CARSON CITY, NV – Employment in Nevada is up 98,900 jobs over the month and the unemployment rate declined from 25.3 percent in May to 15 percent in June, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s (DETR) June 2020 economic report.
Nevada added back a significant number of jobs, up by 8.5 percent. Leisure and Hospitality added 72,700 jobs over the month following the re-opening of many hotel/casinos along with continued reopening of full-service restaurants during the reference period in early June. This reflects the first look at the Phase 2 reopening of the economy.
DETR’s report also notes that Nevada’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims saw a decrease of initial claims over the month of 26,610, or 35.7 percent.
“The month’s numbers reflect the significant impact of policy restrictions on Nevada’s businesses, including hotel casinos, and the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on employment and unemployment in the state. As of June’s report Nevada has recovered nearly half the jobs lost and the State’s unemployment rate declined from 30.1 percent to 15 percent,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist for DETR. “While encouraging, it is important to remember that conditions have changed since the middle of June, and the evolving public health landscape and necessary restrictions will continue to impact Nevada’s labor market for several months to come.”
Lincoln County’s unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in June, compared to 6.3 percent in May.
While June showed improvement in Nevada, July has seen increases in unemployment claims. DETR reported that initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) totaled 14,666 for the week ending July 11, up 2,182 claims, or 17.5 percent, compared to last week’s total of 12,484. This is the third consecutive week of increases in regular initial claims. Through the week ending July 11, there have been 577,152 initial claims filed in 2020, 550,500 of which have been filed since the week ending March 14.
Continued claims, which represent the current number of insured unemployed workers filing weekly for unemployment insurance benefits, rose to 295,994, an increase from the previous week of 8,026 claims, or 2.8 percent. This is the second straight week of increases in continued claims.
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), rose by 0.4 percentage points to 21.3 percent. It should be noted that the calculation of the insured unemployment rate is different from that of the state’s total unemployment rate.
Lincoln County had four initial claims for the week ending July 11 and 64 continued claims, down from eight and 73 respectively filed the week prior.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program for the self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers saw 26,999 initial claims filed in the week ending July 11, a decrease of 35,811, or 57 percent, from last week’s total of 62,810. Since the PUA program began, 312,979 initial claims have been filed.
PUA continued claims totaled 135,727 in the week ending July 11, a decline of 40,208 from the previous week’s revised total of 175,935. Weekly PUA continued claims are now reported by the benefit week claimed. This follows the reporting procedure for regular continued claims and allows us to understand the number of unemployed workers filing weekly for PUA benefits.
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 10,457 claims filed in the week, an increase of 1,052 from a week ago.
Nationally, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted regular initial claims was 1,300,000 a decline of 10,000 claims from the previous week’s revised level of 1,310,000. The national insured unemployment rate for the week ending July 4 was 11.9 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous week’s revised rate. The national rate is reported with a one-week lag.
To file for unemployment in the State of Nevada, please use the online application available 24/7 at http://ui.nv.gov/css.html or call (888) 890-8211.
For Nevada workers who are self-employed, 1099 contract workers, and gig workers, Nevada’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) is now available. For further information regarding the PUA program visit detr.nv.gov/pua# . Individuals will be able to file online at www.employnv.gov or call the PUA Call Center at (800) 603-9681.
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