For Immediate Release
Date: November 13, 2020
Contact: Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations - cdle_pr@state.co.us
STATE LABOR DEPT: 7,483 REGULAR INITIAL UI CLAIMS FILED FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 7
(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 7,483 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending November 7th. There were also 7,281 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Given the large increase in PUA initial claims in recent weeks, CDLE is conducting a review to determine what issues may be contributing to the increase, including a deep-dive fraud analysis (updates on this analysis will be shared in the next weekly release). Since mid-March, a total of 601,964 regular unemployment initial claims have been filed and a grand total of 785,692 claims, including federal PUA benefits.*
For the week ending October 31st, a combined total of 213,703 continued claims were filed, including 91,444 from regular UI, 64,903 from PUA, and 57,356 from Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.**
Benefits paid since March 29:
Regular UI $2.21 Billion
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(gig workers/self-employed) $763.8 Million
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $2.49 Billion
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
(extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks) $181.2 Million
State Extended Benefits
(extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $7.7 Million
Lost Wages Assistance
($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $378.5 Million
Total $6.03 Billion
Claims by industry and benefits paid
Benefits paid: Regular UI
Week ending November 7: $34.0 Million
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending October 24th
#1 Accommodation and Food Services: 658 (14.9% of claims for week)
#2 Administrative and Support and
Waste Management and Remediation Services: 511 (11.6%)
#3 Construction: 504 (11.4%)
#4 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 422 (9.6%)
#5 Retail Trade: 390 (8.8%)
#6 Manufacturing: 284 (6.4%)
#7 Professional and Technical Services: 258 (5.8%)
#8 Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation: 218 (4.9%)
#9 Wholesale Trade: 185 (4.2%)
#10 Transportation and Warehousing: 159 (3.6%)
* 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.