For Immediate Release
Date: October 8, 2020
Contact: Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations - cdle_pr@state.co.us
STATE LABOR DEPT: 5,892 REGULAR INITIAL UI CLAIMS
FILED FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 3RD
(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 5,892 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending October 3rd. There were also 2,309 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, a total of 569,357 regular unemployment initial claims have been filed and a grand total of 734,120 claims, including federal PUA benefits.*
For the week ending September 26th, a combined total of 218,292 continued claims were filed, including 126,274 from regular UI, 64,680 from PUA, and 27,338 from Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.**
The Department also announced that through the week ending October 3rd it paid a total of $357 million in Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) unemployment benefits. LWA is a federally-funded program that provides up to six weeks of additional benefits to all claimants who were eligible for unemployment benefits for the weeks July 26 - September 5th and who were eligible for at least $100/week in unemployment.
Regular UI claimants must certify by Saturday, October 24th to receive these benefits and will not receive LWA payments without required federal certification that their unemployment status was due to Covid-19.The previous deadline to certify was October 10th but department officials added another two weeks due to lower than expected certification rates thus far. Claimants can certify by phone or online at coloradoui.gov.
Benefits paid since March 29:
Regular UI $2.01 Billion
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(gig workers/self-employed) $658.7 Million
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $2.47 Billion
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
(extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks) $96.5 Million
State Extended Benefits
(extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $663,300
Lost Wages Assistance
($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $357.5 Million
Total $5.59 Billion
Claims by industry and benefits paid
Benefits paid: Regular UI
Week ending October 3: $48.0 Million
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending September 19th
#1 Administrative and Support and
Waste Management and Remediation Services: 396 (11.6% of claims for week)
#2 Construction: 380 (11.1%)
#3 Retail Trade: 376 (11.0%)
#4 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 363 (10.6%)
#4 Accommodation and Food Services: 363 (10.6%)
#6 Professional and Technical Services: 251 (7.4%)
#7 Manufacturing: 201 (5.9%)
#8 Wholesale Trade: 145 (4.3%)
#9 Transportation and Warehousing: 142 (4.2%)
#10 Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation: 128 (3.8%)
Additionally, data containing characteristics of initial claims filed by workforce region/sub-area from March 15th to September 12th have been added to the link provided.
* 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.
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