Press Releases

Colorado’s job seekers who have been affected by the pandemic can now take advantage of two Disaster Recovery grants: COResponds and RecoverCO.

(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that an estimated 14,018 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending February 6th. Since mid-March 2020, an estimated total of 805,854 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed. With the Phase 1 rollout, there were 30,295 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) initial claims filed for the week ending February 6th.* 

(DENVER) – Today, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) announced a three-week campaign to help Colorado’s unemployed workers return to work with virtual hiring events, workshops, job search support and more. Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on Colorado’s workforce, with more than 270,000 people receiving unemployment benefits. This statewide initiative is aimed at helping our state’s workers return to work and our state’s employers fill critical vacancies as the State changes restrictions on the Covid-19 dial.

(DENVER) --  Today, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) announced it will begin rolling out Phase 2 of the extended pandemic benefits provided by the Continued Assistance Act (CAA) the week of February 22. Phase 2 will allow most claimants who exhausted the balance of their federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) claims on or before December 26, 2020. Phase 2 will also include the ability to file new PUA and PEUC claims.  Phase 1 of the program began rolling out last week to claimants who still had existing balances on their PUA and PEUC claims on December 26, 2020. Since February 1, more than 104,000 people have received over $166 million in benefits as part of Phase 1. 

DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that an estimated 10,989 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending January 30th.* Since mid-March, an estimated total of 791,836 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed and an estimated grand total of 1,043,760 claims, including federal PUA benefits. For the week ending January 23rd, a total of 70,150 continued claims were filed from the regular UI program.** CDLE will resume reporting of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) claims activity in next week’s press release. Weekly initial and continued claims figures can be viewed in the attached PDF at the bottom of this press release.

(DENVER) -- Today, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) announced that it has begun rolling out the extended pandemic benefits provided by the Continued Assistance Act, which was signed into law on December 27, 2020.

(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that an estimated 11,432 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending January 23rd. The week prior an estimated 12,881 regular initial claims were filed.* Since mid-March, an estimated total of 780,847 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed and an estimated grand total of 1,032,471 claims, including federal PUA benefits.

According to the survey of households, Colorado’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased in December to 8.4 percent. The national unemployment rate was unchanged from November at 6.7 percent. 

(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that due to the deployment of its new online unemployment benefits system, and impacts to underlying reports, there are currently no new claims or benefit payment data available to report for the week ending January 16th. CDLE anticipates that new UI claims data will be available for the January 28th press release. As a reminder, the next scheduled release is this Friday, January 22 at 8 A.M. for the December Employment Situation. 

(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 14,123 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending January 9th. As reported last week, the Department has identified an increase in reports of UI fraud that is likely connected to the expiration of CARES Act programs. Therefore, the initial claims estimate for the week ending January 9th has been adjusted in an attempt to account for fraudulent activity within regular UI. Additionally, initial claims for the three weeks prior were revised down to the following figures in order to adjust for fraud: week ending December 19th (18,121); week ending December 26th (16,660); and week ending January 2nd (25,178). Going forward, CDLE will adjust regular UI initial claims data for fraudulent activity, as well as publish revisions to prior weeks, when necessary.