■ DETR will allow education support staff to be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Remote work more sought after in pandemic
Juanny Romero sounded discouraged as she explained how her cafe Mothership Coffee Roasters has struggled to fill job openings at its downtown Las Vegas and Henderson locations.
Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso described his experience finding workers for his downtown restaurant as a “nightmare.”
A number of companies in Nevada are reporting difficulty filling positions even though the state’s unemployment rate remains high.
Nevada State Bank released its annual Small Business Survey on Thursday. It showed that more than 70 percent of the 400 respondents “find it somewhat to very difficult to recruit quality job candidates in the Nevada market.”
“They’re not showing up to interviews,” Romero said. “It’s very demoralizing for my HR team to deal with, so we have changed the criteria as of (last week). If you have no job experience, that’s fine. We’re willing to work with people who are just amazing, bright individuals who are kind and caring.”
Nevada was among the states hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic last year, reaching a record unemployment rate of 29.5 percent in April.
Data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Nevada’s unemployment rate has slowly improved, but it’s still among the highest in the country, tying with New Mexico at No. 5.
February’s unemployment rate was 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent in January, but up by 4.6 percent year over year. The national unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, according to the bureau.
Employers might think that Nevada’s high unemployment rate would make hiring easy, but staffing expert Damian Garcia said the pandemic has shifted what applicants are seeking.
their concern was specific to this summer, for folks who might have spent their savings, and just didn’t have the opportunity to build back up their savings and might be facing unemployment this summer,” Cafferata told the state Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor. “So we have proposed, and the governor has signed, emergency regulations that will cover education support personnel this summer only because it is very specific to the situation of this pandemic.”
Cafferata said the emergency regulation proposal would take advantage of a provision within the
American Rescue Plan that allows the federal government to cover up to 75 percent of the cost for reimbursable employers, such as school districts.
“We think that reduces the burden: the one-time, one-summer burden significantly,” Cafferata said.
The proposal still needs the stamp of approval by the Legislative Commission.
Covered staff would include individuals employed by a county school district, a charter school or a private elementary or secondary institution licensed in Nevada. Individuals would be able to apply once the current school year is completed with benefits collected only for weeks of unemployment in the time period the emergency regulation is effective.
Employees covered under the regulation would not be eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits.
The nation’s fifth-largest school district said Friday that it will work with the Nevada workforce agency to figure out how to implement the new emergency regulation.
“We understand the difficulties our staff have faced over the past year and appreciate the Governor is trying to decrease the negative economic impacts of the pandemic on Nevada’s families. District staff will be working closely with DETR to understand and implement this Emergency Regulation,” Clark County School District said in a statement Friday evening.