COLORADO, USA — The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) released estimates for initial regular unemployment (UI) claims filed the previous two weeks after adjusting for fraud.
> Video above: Colorado to roll out federal unemployment benefits on Friday.
CDLE reported an estimated 11,432 regular UI claims were filed the week ending Jan. 23, and that $23.9 million in regular UI benefits were paid out.
CDLE also reported and that an estimated 12,881 were filed the week ending Jan. 16, and $20.6 million in benefits were paid out.
For the week ending Jan. 16, 85,305 total continued claims were filed from the regular UI program, and the week ending Jan. 9 there were 88,949 continued claims, according to CDLE.
CDLE reiterated that it has identified an increase in fraud reports related to the UI program that is likely linked to the suspension of federal unemployment benefits on Dec. 26 when the CARES Act expired.
As a result, CDLE said the numbers for the week ending Jan. 16 and Jan. 23 have been adjusted to attempt to account for fraud.
Going forward, CDLE said it will adjust regular UI initial claims data, and publish revisions for previous weeks when necessary.
Since mid-March, CDLE reports an estimated 780,847 regular UI claims have been filed, and an estimated 1,032,471 total claims have been filed including PUA.
Benefits paid since March 29, according to CDLE:
- Regular UI: $2.6 billion
- Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (gig workers/self-employed): $1.06 billion
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants): $2.51 billion
- Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks): $360.5 million
- State Extended Benefits (extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks): $29.7 million
- Lost Wages Assistance ($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants): $389.2 Million
- Total: $6.94 billion
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell but remained at a historically high 847,000 last week, a sign that layoffs keep coming as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.
Last week’s claims dropped by 67,000 from 914,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Before the virus hit the U.S. hard last March, weekly applications for jobless aid had never topped 700,000.
Overall, nearly 4.8 million Americans are continuing to receive traditional state unemployment benefits. That is down from nearly 5 million the week before and from a staggering peak of nearly 25 million in May when the virus — and lockdowns and other measures to contain it — brought economic activity to a near halt. The drop suggests that some of the unemployed are finding new jobs and that others have exhausted state benefits.
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