For Immediate Release
Date: October 15, 2020
Contact: Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations - cdle_pr@state.co.us
STATE LABOR DEPT: 6,242 REGULAR INITIAL UI CLAIMS
FILED FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 10th
Note: There will be no press call today
Next press call will be Tuesday, October 20th at 10 AM
(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 6,242 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending October 10th. There were also 2,532 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, a total of 575,599 regular unemployment initial claims have been filed and a grand total of 742,894 claims, including federal PUA benefits.*
For the week ending October 3rd, a combined total of 232,553 continued claims were filed, including 123,629 from regular UI, 64,741 from PUA, and 44,183 from Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.**
The Department also announced that through the week ending October 10th it paid a total of $367 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 the federal Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program. Claimants can certify by phone or online at coloradoui.gov.
Benefits paid since March 29:
Regular UI $2.05 Billion
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(gig workers/self-employed) $677.7 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) $110.2 Million
State Extended Benefits
(extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $850,000
Lost Wages Assistance
($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $367.1 Million
Total $5.69 Billion
Claims by industry and benefits paid
Benefits paid: Regular UI
Week ending October 10: $46.2 Million
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending September 19th
#1 Accommodation and Food Services: 418 (12.7% of claims for week)
#2 Retail Trade: 394 (12.0%)
#3 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 392 (11.9%)
#4 Construction: 355 (10.8%)
#5 Administrative and Support and
Waste Management and Remediation Services: 339 (10.3%)
#6 Professional and Technical Services: 217 (6.6%)
#7 Manufacturing: 177 (5.4%)
#8 Transportation and Warehousing: 136 (4.1%)
#9 Wholesale Trade: 135 (4.1%)
#10 Other Services: 128 (3.9%)
* 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.