Regular unemployment claims rise in Nevada

A total of 15,548 people filed for unemployment in the week ended July 18, an increase of 882 initial claims over the week before.

Continued claims — those already receiving benefits —increased by 10,083 to 306,077. That is the third straight week of increases in continued claims.

Nevada’s insured unemployment rate — the number of continued claims compared to the total number of jobs covered by the employment security system — increased by seven-tenths of a percent to 22 percent during the week.

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program saw 19,557 initial claims last week. That is 27.6 percent fewer than the week before. PUA is the program for the self-employed, gig workers and 1099 contract workers who otherwise don’t qualify for unemployment.

Continued PUA claims are now down to 132,595, a decrease of 20,693.

The majority of claims in all categories are in Clark County with over half of initial claims — 8,226 — and two thirds of continued claims — 203,404 — coming from the Las Vegas area.

Carson City saw just 116 initial claims and 2,088 continued claims. In Douglas, there were 66 initial and 1,515 continued claims for the week ended July 18. Churchill saw 29 and 474 while Lyon reported 109 initial and 1,691 continued claims.

Finally, Washoe County reported 956 new claims with 19,759 receiving continued benefits.