CDLE: Unemployment Claims and Featured Job Openings Ending December 12

(DENVER) –Today the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) reported that 19,854 regular initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending December 12th. There were also 20,621 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, a total of 682,362 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed and a grand total of 916,915 claims, including federal PUA benefits.

For the week ending December 5th, a combined total of 255,671 continued claims were filed from the regular UI (97,108), PUA (83,656), and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (74,907) programs.

Benefits paid since March 29:

Regular UI $2.37 Billion-/- Week ending December 12 $37.0 Million

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance-/- (gig workers/self-employed) $923.4 Million

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) $284.3 Million

State Extended Benefits-/- (extends unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks) $29.3 Million

Lost Wages Assistance-/-($300/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants) $379.2 Million

Total $6.49 Billion

Claims by industry (most recent data available)

Top 10 industries with highest initial claims for week ending November 28th:

#1 Accommodation and Food Services: 5,606 (45.5% of claims for week)

#2 Construction: 895 (7.3%)

#3 Healthcare and Social Assistance: 776 (6.3%)

#4 Administrative and Support and       Waste Management and Remediation Services: 670 (5.4%)

#5 Education Services: 607 (4.9%)

#6 Retail Trade: 599 (4.9%)

#7 Professional and Technical Services: 461 (3.7%)

#8 Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation: 455 (3.7%)

#9 Manufacturing: 443 (3.6%)

#10 Other Services: 286 (2.3%)