The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation says the state's unemployment rate is a record high for any state. April's unemployment rate was 28.2%. 

"Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, ahead of number two Michigan, which had a rate of 22.7%," David Schmidt, Nevada Chief Economist said. "Nevada now has the highest unemployment rate of any state in any month dating back to 1976."

1976 is when states started keeping track of unemployment rates. Nevada's jobless rate is also higher than it was during the Great Depression. That was estimated at 25%. There is a big difference between then and now. The current economic situation is because of a rapid policy response to a pandemic, not through years of economic decline.

"Today, we are just over two months removed from the onset of the COVID-19 shutdown, not years into a national recession in a state that's already shifting back to reopening," Schmidt said.

Schmidt says the shutdown is affecting Nevada especially hard because our biggest sector relies on tourism and hospitality. He says the Accommodation and Food Service Industry has declined by 41% since last April. DETR says the state's labor force has shrunk by 150,000 since February and jobs have declined by 255,00, or 18%, since April 2019.

"Together, these numbers show about 573,000 Nevadans affected by the COVID-19 shutdown," Schmidt said.

Since unemployment rates look at one specific week from each month, he expects the numbers to stay relatively the same when the May numbers come out. They will reflect the unemployment rate at the very beginning of Phase One when some businesses started to reopen.

"We may go another month at levels comparable to this but then as more reopening starts to happen, we would expect to see people returning to work and no longer being unemployed and reengaged with the labor force and see those numbers fall," Schmidt said.

DETR says it is making progress in unemployment benefits. 480,718 Nevadans have filed unemployment claims as of May 16. 96,225 of those were not eligible for the program. 268,593 of eligible people have been successfully paid. Nevada has paid approximately $1.6 billion in unemployment benefits in the last two months.

"That flows back into the Nevada economy to provide vital support to Nevada's people, families and businesses," Schmidt said.

DETR has also set up a new system for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, which total more than 59,000 successful claims. The program is for gig workers, contractors and 1099 filers. It set up a PUA assistance claim system last week.

"I am extremely proud of the work that went into this tech project," Heather Korbulic, DETR Director said. 

The payment system will be up and running, Saturday morning.

"Once the system is stood up as expected, filers will be able to begin filing weekly claims, starting this weekend," Korbulic said. "Payments on these weekly claims can be expected to begin going out on Wednesday, May 27."

The standard unemployment insurance and PUA call centers will both be open on Memorial Day. People who qualify for standard unemployment benefits have to lose their job through no fault of their own and they have to earned enough and worked enough hours. 

"To be eligible for PUA, you have to be unemployed, partially unemployed, unable to work or unavailable to work due to COVID-19," Korbulic said.

DETR is also adding staff to help with the high number of unemployment claims. Korbulic says people who think they are approved but have not received payments may be part of a group of claims that are being held for adjudication. 46,956 claims are pending because state and federal law requires DETR to find out why or how someone lost their job. That is down from 120,00 pending claims.

PUA applicants can file online at www.employnv.gov or call the PUA Call Center at (800) 603-9681.

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