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November 4, 2008
CARSON CITY – A record 4,700 Nevada workers exhausted their unemployment benefits in September and will no longer be able to draw checks to tide them over until they find a job.
Bill Anderson, chief economist for the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, calls it a “most moving” statistic.
It’s the highest number to have ever exhausted their benefits, surpassing the previous record of 4,565 set in April 2002, according to department economist David Schmidt.
Unemployed workers can file for benefits for up to 26 weeks. Eligibility is based on earnings.
Congress earlier this year approved legislation to extend the benefits for 12 weeks once a worker has exhausted the benefits. That started in July, when there was a surge in jobless workers. Schmidt said 13,000 people initially filed for the extended benefits.
Gov. Jim Gibbons has sent a letter to Nevada’s Congressional delegation, outlining ways to help Nevada if there’s an economic stimulus package from the federal government. He suggested an extension of the already extended unemployment benefits for those who are exhausting their eligibility.
Nevada posted a 7.1 percent unemployment rate in September, a 23-year high. “We haven’t seen the bottom,” Anderson said. The department is predicting the jobless rate could rise to 8.5 percent in 2009.
Anderson told the Economic Forum Monday that despite the economic slowdown, Nevada is still attracting new residents but the growth rate has slowed.
For this year through September, construction employment has fallen 9.1 percent or 12,200 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities increased by 2.2 percent or 5,200 jobs; professional and business services employment dropped 3.2 percent, losing 5,100 jobs and employment in the leisure and hospitality industries was flat.
Overall in the jobs picture, “We’re looking for stability this year (fiscal 2009)” and then modest growth in 2010 by 2 percent and then three percent in 2011, Anderson said.
Gibbons has also asked the federal government, if it provides more help to spur the economy, to send money to the states for construction projects. Gibbons, according to his press secretary Ben Kieckhefer, said there are highway projects ready to go and this could help get construction workers back on the job.
In addition, he wants the federal government to pick up a greater share of the Medicaid program that provides health benefits to low income residents.
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