Extended benefit claims increased in the week ending Feb. 6 as more and more jobless Nevadans exhaust their benefits in the regular unemployment and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs.
The State Extended Benefits program is the final place the unemployed can get benefits after those two programs are exhausted.
Continued claims in the regular program decreased 1,093 to 79,798, a reduction of 1.4 percent.
Claims in the PEUC program saw 62,437 claims filed during the week, 2,871 fewer than the week before. But DETR officials say some of those claimants may qualify for an additional 11 weeks of PEUC benefits.
During the week, the State Extended Benefits (SEB) program saw an increase of 4,261 claims to a total of 70,327.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program continued its erratic performance during the week ending Feb. 6 with 35,460 initial claims in the week.
That is a decrease of 34,908, just shy of half the number filed in the previous week. DETR officials claim ongoing high levels of fraud for the weekly swings.
PUA provides benefits to people who don’t normally qualify for unemployment such as the self-employed and gig workers.
At week’s end, there were 118,806 continued PUA claims, a decrease of 5,197 or 4.2 percent from the previous week.
