Nevada weekly jobless claims drop compared with week prior

There were 71,419 unemployment insurance claims in Nevada for the week ending March 28, according to unadjusted seasonal data from the Department of Labor.

The number of claims dropped about 23 percent compared with the prior week, when more than 92,000 claims were filed in the state.

There were more than 5.8 million total unadjusted initial claims for the week across the U.S., up 99 percent from the week prior. There were 183,775 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019.

State officials and Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office did not immediately respond to messages about the second week of stunning numbers of people seeking benefits.

The governor on Wednesday conceded there are problems in the state jobless office, telling reporters it was adding people, expanding hours and “working around the clock nonstop” to handle the flood of unemployment applications.

He said most snags stem from people forgetting system passwords and because the state has done a poor job in the past of funding the jobless office, “Yes, you are going to get a busy signal, (and) yes, you are going to have problems,” the governor said.

Officials are urging claimants to remain patient as the state handles a record number of applications.

While the causes of delayed access to benefits vary, some claims are being held up by the adjudication process, according to Rosa Mendez, spokeswoman for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, which oversees the state’s unemployment insurance program.

After a worker submits an unemployment insurance claim (a process that can already take days, as the system’s phone lines are kept busy), the benefits aren’t sent out automatically, Mendez said. Instead, a state employee must approve each claim.

The office said people who able to get through by phone or online will automatically receive back pay from March 15.

Sisolak on March 17 ordered casinos and other nonessential businesses such as bars, movie theaters and gyms to close to prevent people from congregating and spreading the virus. He extended the closures Wednesday until at least April 30.

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.