Nevada unemployment claims rise 12 percent in week ended July 4

The number of initial unemployment claims increased 12.4 percent in the week ended July 4, to 12,484.

That is the second consecutive week of increased regular claims.

Just 131 new claims were filed in Carson City and 69 in Douglas. Churchill reported 24 new claims and Lyon County 66. Storey County reported just one initial claim for the week.

Continuing claims, which represent the current total insured unemployed workers, also increased during the week, but only by four-tenths of a percent. Still, there are 287,968 people receiving benefits in the regular program.

That raised the state’s unemployment rate for regular workers to 20.9 percent, the first increase in continued claims since the state began the process of reopening businesses.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) that provides help to the self-employed, 1099 contract and gig workers saw 62,810 people file for help in the week ending July 4. That is a decrease of 6,334 filings from the previous week.

But DETR officials say they question the number of PUA claims since nearly half of the 285,980 claims files so far were filed in just the past two weeks.

Finally, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that provides 13 weeks of extended benefits to those who have expired their regular benefits was 9,405 new claims filed during the week.