Insurance rate for unemployment stays unchanged in Nevada

Monday, Nov. 18, 2002 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Predicting a "slow but steady" improvement in the economy, the state today decided to maintain its present rate charged the 46,000 Nevada employers for unemployment insurance.

Myla Florence, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, said she foresees a rising "economic horizon" in the coming year.

She held a public hearing but nobody showed up to testify. She then adopted the tax rate of 1.29 percent for 2003, which has been in effect for the past three years. All employers will pay an extra .05 percent to finance a job training program.

Business will pay the rate on the first $21,500 earned by a worker next year, up from the present $20,900.

Florence said she expected the unemployment trust fund, used to pay jobless benefits, will have $428.4 million when it is measured Sept. 30 2003. She said that would be $82.8 million above the required solvency level.

The state this year paid out $306 million in unemployment benefits. The present maximum benefit for a jobless worker is $309 a week.

The tax rate for an employer is based on worker turnover. The rates range from .25 percent for those with a low turnover to a high of 5.4 percent where there are many changes in employment. New employers pay 2.95 percent for several years until they get an experience rating. There are an estimated 21,038 employers in this category who will pay the 2.95 percent plus the .05 percent.

Of those 25,848 businesses with experience ratings, 47.7 percent or 12,292 will pay the lowest rate of .025. And 3.1 percent or 811 employers pay the maximum rate of 5.4 percent.

Florence said maintaining the present tax rate will "mitigate the tax burden (on employers) during the economic recovery."

Florence noted that the advisory council, composed of business, labor and general public representatives, recommended the rate remain the same.