Nevada's latest initial unemployment claims lowest since March

Nevada’s Employment Security officials say there were just 7,525 initial claims filed for unemployment benefits last week.

That is down 673 claims or 8.2 percent compared with the previous week and the lowest number of new claims since mid-March.

In addition, officials say continued claims fell for the seventh consecutive week, dipping below the 200,000 mark. The decrease of 12,795 to 190,613 is the lowest number of ongoing benefit claims since April 11.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that provides benefits to the self-employed and other workers who don’t qualify for regular UI benefits also decreased with just 11,198 new claims, a 240 claim decrease from the week ended Sept. 26.

PUA continued claims fell by 5,964 or 5.2 percent to 95,829.

But the State Extended Benefits program reported an increase of 379 claims to a total of 4,146. SEB provides up to 20 more weeks of benefits for those who have exhausted their regular benefits but still haven’t found work.

Carson City reported just 136 new claims during the week. Douglas County reported 76 initial claims filed and Churchill County 38. There were 105 new claims filed in Lyon County.

Carson has 1,455 continued claims, Douglas 1,067, Churchill 405 and Lyon 1,209.

While Washoe County reported 966 initial claims for benefits, the vast majority of new claims came from Clark County — 16,056 — the result of mass layoffs by multiple Las Vegas Strip and other Southern Nevada resorts.