Published Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 | 11:19 a.m.
Updated Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 | 7:22 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Nevada is borrowing money from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits after the pandemic created a surge of claims and eventually drained a state fund making payments to those out of work.
Nevada's Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation announced Thursday that the state's unemployment trust fund held out for nine months but ran out this week.
Nevada is among 22 states now borrowing from the U.S. government to pay jobless claims after running out of their reserves to pay out benefits.
The federal government had to take similar measures during the Great Recession, borrowing more than $800 million from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits as the state unemployment rate topped out then near 14%.
The COVID-19 outbreak has kept Nevada's unemployment rate among the highest in the country and in April Nevada set the highest record for any U.S. state ever with an unemployment rate topping 30%.
The state's unemployment rate in November was 10.1%.
