CO Labor Dept.: 6,450 additional Coloradans file for unemployment

DENVER — An additional 6,450 people filed for traditional unemployment benefits in the week ending Aug. 27, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said Thursday, a decrease of 492 from the week prior.

In the same period, 16,417 self-employed and gig workers in Colorado applied for state-level Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which are benefits for workers traditionally not eligible for traditional unemployment. That is a rise of 4,608 from the week before.

That specific assistance at the federal level, along with a $600 per week additional benefit for all claims, expired on Aug. 1. Reports from Washington show talks between Democrats, the White House and portions of the Republican legislative base have faltered multiple times.

In lieu of a congressional deal, President Donald Trump signed executive orders in previous weeks that among other actions diverted $40 billion in federal disaster funding to give most unemployment claimants $400 per week through the end of December, with the first $100 being paid by the state.

It is unclear from a legal standpoint if he has the power to unilaterally move funds that were appropriated by Congress.

Colorado was approved in recent weeks to tap into that funding, but state officials plan to pay out only the $300 in federal dollars and have yet to decide if it will apply the $100 state match.

In a call with reporters, CDLE spokeswoman Cher Haavind said the FEMA funds will be backdated for claimants who were paid out between July 26 and Aug. 15, and the state is in the process of applying for more funding on a week-by-week basis.

The number of regular continuing claims was at 179,978 Coloradans in the week ending Aug. 15, amounting to a steep drop of 16,682. The number of continued claims for pandemic-specific assistance rose to 83,926 in the week ending on the 22nd, a rise of almost 4,900 from the week prior.

Colorado distributed $67.2 million in regular unemployment-insurance payments in the week, a small drop from $68.7 million the prior week.

Nationwide, the U.S. Labor Department said just more than 1 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits, a drop of 98,000 from the previous week.

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