COLORADO, USA — More than 24,000 regular unemployment claims were filed in Colorado last week, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) said on Thursday.
CDLE reported 24,397 regular initial unemployment (UI) claims and 27,989 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims were filed the week ending Dec. 19.
CDLE also reported $37.7 million in UI benefits were paid out that week.
> Video above: Full video of CDLE's monthly unemployment update on Dec. 18.
Since mid-March, CDLE reports a total of 706,759 regular initial UI claims have been filed and a total of 969,301 claims have been filed, including federal PUA benefits.
For the week ending December 12, CDLE reports a combined total of 253,333 continued claims were filed including 98,162 regular UI, 81,154 PUA claims and 74,017 Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) claims.
CDLE officials said last week that federal unemployment benefits will not resume until mid- to late-January at the earliest.
Programs created under the federal CARES Act passed by Congress in June that extended federal unemployment benefits are set to expire on Dec. 26.
CDLE said that roughly 280,000 Coloradans who are eligible to receive benefits are set to lose access to benefits, even if a claimant still has remaining benefit payments. That group largely includes gig workers, along with self-employed and independent contractors.
The resumption of payouts depends on the passing of new pandemic benefits by Congress.
However, even if Congress passes new legislation before benefits expire on Dec. 26, CDLE said the U.S. Department of Labor must first issue guidance before state labor departments can begin programming their systems.
If new benefits are passed by Dec. 26, CDLE said the U.S. Labor Department will likely send out guidance early- to mid-January.
Once the guidance is issued, CDLE said it will take a few weeks to set up their systems.
Benefits paid since March 29, according to CDLE:
- Regular UI: $2.41 Billion
- PUA (benefits for gig workers/self-employed): $962.1 Million
- PEUC (extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks): $307.5 Million
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants): $2.51 Billion
- State Extended Benefits (extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks): $29.5 Million
- Lost Wages Assistance ($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants): $379.4 Million
- Total: $6.60 billion
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending December 5, according to CDLE:
- Accommodation and Food Services: 4,393 (31.4% of claims that week)
- Construction: 1,228 (8.8%)
- Healthcare and Social Assistance: 1,157 (8.3%)
- Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services: 955 (6.8%)
- Education Services: 939 (6.7%)
- Retail Trade: 837 (6.0%)
- Professional and Technical Services: 728 (5.2%)
- Manufacturing: 582 (4.2%)
- Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation: 455 (3.3%)
- Wholesale Trade: 420 (3.0%)
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 89,000 last week to a still-elevated 803,000, evidence that the job market remains under stress nine months after the coronavirus outbreak sent the U.S. economy into recession and caused millions of layoffs.
The latest figure, released Wednesday by the Labor Department, shows that many employers are still cutting jobs as the pandemic tightens business restrictions and leads many consumers to stay home. Before the virus struck, jobless claims typically numbered around 225,000 a week before shooting up to 6.9 million in early spring when the virus — and efforts to contain it — flattened the economy. The pace of layoffs has since declined but remains historically high in the face of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases.
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