A total of 16,183 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed in May — less than 1 percent fewer than in May 2012.
Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said that is the smallest decline in six months. Still, he said, it’s the 39th month of the past 42 in which claims have been lower than in the same month the previous year.
“This continues the ongoing multi-year trend with claim activity increasingly reflecting a stabilizing job market instead of one dominated by the extreme swings experienced during the worst years of the recession,” Anderson said.
Monthly initial claims for benefits peaked at 36,414 in December 2008. Since, Anderson said, the low point for initial claims was 13,932, in September 2012. Initial claims typically peak in December and January, then fall heading into the spring and summer months, he said.