For Immediate Release
Date: October 15, 2020
Contact: Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations - cdle_pr@state.co.us
STATE LABOR DEPT: 5,735 REGULAR INITIAL UI CLAIMS
FILED FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 17th
Note: There are no future weekly press calls scheduled. There will be two scheduled monthly press calls: November 20th at 10 AM (October employment situation) and December 18th at 10 AM (November employment situation)
(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 5,735 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending October 17th. There were also 2,973 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, a total of 581,334 regular unemployment initial claims have been filed and a grand total of 751,602 claims, including federal PUA benefits.*
For the week ending October 10th, a combined total of 217,974 continued claims were filed, including 111,129 from regular UI, 67,234 from PUA, and 39,611 from Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.**
Benefits paid since March 29:
Regular UI $2.10 Billion
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(gig workers/self-employed) $696.6 Million
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $2.48 Billion
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
(extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks) $126.5 Million
State Extended Benefits
(extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $2.1 Million
Lost Wages Assistance
($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $371.5 Million
Total $5.77 Billion
Claims by industry and benefits paid
Benefits paid: Regular UI
Week ending October 17: $41.5 Million
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending October 3rd
#1 Accommodation and Food Services: 483 (11.2% of claims for week)
#2 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 445 (10.3%)
#3 Retail Trade: 437 (10.2%)
#4 Administrative and Support and
Waste Management and Remediation Services: 414 (9.6%)
#5 Construction: 396 (9.2%)
#6 Manufacturing: 351 (8.2%)
#7 Transportation and Warehousing: 315 (7.3%)
#8 Professional and Technical Services: 288 (6.7%)
#9 Public Administration: 205 (4.8%)
#10 Wholesale Trade: 184 (4.3%)
* Initial claims are claims filed to establish benefit eligibility. Initial claims are considered a reliable leading indicator of economic activity. All applications filed are those applications for benefits filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and may not have been through various eligibility determination e.g. wage verification, etc.
**Continued claims are filed to request payment for a given week after eligibility has been established. Weeks claimed provide information as to current labor market conditions.