CO Labor Dept.: 5,007 additional Coloradans filed for regular unemployment last week

DENVER — An additional 5,007 people filed for traditional unemployment benefits in the week ending Sept. 19, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said Thursday, representing virtually no change from the 5,025 week prior.

A total of 1,899 people in Colorado applied for state-level Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in that week, which is assistance for gig workers, the self-employed and others who wouldn’t normally qualify for regular benefits. That amounts to an increase of 366 from the week prior.

That specific assistance at the federal level, along with a $600 per week additional benefit for all claims, expired in August with both chambers of Congress and the White House deadlocked on additional stimulus as political battles over a bill to keep the federal government operating and the pending nomination to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court seemingly taking precedence.

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.

Colorado was approved to tap into that funding for five weeks.

The first round of those payments were made last week.

The number of regular continuing claims was at 150,665 Coloradans in the week ending Sept. 12, amounting to a drop of about 6,500. The number of continued claims for pandemic-specific assistance was at 64,066 as of Sept. 12, increasing by about 4,200 from the week prior.

Meanwhile, a state-led emergency unemployment compensation program jumped from 21,097 in the week ending Sept. 12 to 31,083 in the week ending Sept. 19.

The amount of regular benefits paid out by the department declined by $1.8 million from the prior week at $56.5 million.

Nationwide, the U.S. Labor Department said 870,000 Americans filed for first-time benefits in the week, a slight increase from 864,000 from the week prior. 

Those figures are not directly comparable to the last several months of national claims figures due to a change in how the federal agency adjusts for seasonal employment. State labor officials do not seasonally adjust their weekly claims alongside the U.S. Department of Labor’s figures.

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