For Immediate Release
Date: December 31, 2020
Contact: Office of Government, Policy and Public Relations - cdle_pr@state.co.us
State Labor Dept Update for the Week Ending December 26th: UI Claims and Featured Job Openings this Week
(DENVER) -- Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 25,360 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending December 26th. There were also 19,555 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, a total of 732,119 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed and a grand total of 984,043 claims, including federal PUA benefits.*
For the week ending December 19th, a combined total of 265,507 continued claims were filed from the regular UI (102,851), PUA (86,464), and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (76,192) programs.**
PUA initial and continued claims for prior weeks were revised down to adjust for fraudulent activity within the program. PUA initial claims were revised down a combined total of 30,173 for the period of October 17th to December 19th. PUA continued claims were revised down an average of 4,000 per week over the same period of time. Weekly PUA initial and continued claims figures can be viewed on pages 3 and 6 in the attached PDF at the bottom of this press release.
Benefits paid since March 29:
Regular UI $2.45 Billion
Week ending December 26: $39.8 Million
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(gig workers/self-employed) $1.01 Billion
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $2.51 Billion
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
(extends unemployment benefits by up to 13 weeks) $327.4 Million
State Extended Benefits
(extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $29.6 Million
Lost Wages Assistance
($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $389.2 Million
Total $6.69 Billion
Claims by industry (most recent data available)
Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending December 12th
#1 Accommodation and Food Services: 2,471 (17.2% of claims for week)
#2 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 1,599 (11.1%)
#3 Education Services: 1,428 (9.9%)
#4 Construction: 1,401 (9.7%)
#5 Professional and Technical Services: 1,098 (7.6%)
#6 Administrative and Support and
Waste Management and Remediation Services: 1,017 (7.1%)
#7 Retail Trade: 874 (6.1%)
#8 Manufacturing: 720 (5.0%)
#9 Wholesale Trade: 579 (4.0%)
#10 Public Administration: 551 (3.8%)
Helping Coloradans with Reemployment Support:
Trainings and Resources for Job Seekers
CDLE and its partners hold regular, no-cost training that can help unemployed Coloradans get rehired. A sampling of events is below and a complete list of events, workshops and training opportunities is available on the CDLE website. Workers are also encouraged to contact their local Workforce Center to find no-cost services from their expert staff. Find your local Workforce Center here.
Trainings and Resources for Job Seekers
January 4, 11:00 am - 11:30 am: Denver Workforce Services “Now Hiring!” series
January 6, 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Careers in Healthcare
Who’s Hiring
There are more than 70,000 jobs available in ConnectingColorado.com, the state’s jobs database.
- Total number of open jobs (12/30/2020): 73,444
- Job titles posted most often:
- CDL-A truck drivers (4,365)
- Registered nurses (985)
- Customer service representatives (926)
- Industries hiring: While many industries are hiring, the top three were:
- Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (27,894)
- Professional, scientific, and technical services (21,026)
- Retail trade (19,603)
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the Office of the Future of Work publish a weekly series to share hiring trends and highlight online and in-person resources to connect workers with meaningful employment. This week, the article gives an update on last week’s job postings and shares a new tool for skills-based resumes. Read the latest article here.
*Initial claims are claims filed to establish or reestablish 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.
Continued claims can be used as a proxy to roughly estimate the number of claimants receiving UI benefits in a given week. However, the Department does produce a report that captures the number of UI payment recipients on a monthly basis. The monthly data can be viewed in the final pages of the attached PDF at the bottom of this press release.