DENVER – Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance initial claim filings rose again last week in Colorado from the week prior, but the amount of regular benefits the state paid out dropped to their lowest level in eight weeks.
Another 10,270 Coloradans filed regular initial unemployment claims last week and 17,945 filed PUA initial claims for self-employed and gig workers – bringing the 13-week total to 456,763 regular initial claims and the combined PUA and regular claims total to 568,721.
The week prior, 10,151 PUA initial claims were filed.
Colorado paid out $84.6 million in regular unemployment benefits last week – the first time since the week ending May 2 that number was below $85 million, and the lowest total payout since the week ending April 18, when the state paid out $74.1 million.
In total, Colorado has paid out $880.6 million in regular unemployment benefits since March 29. It has also paid out $277.5 million in federal dollars for PUA benefits and $1.32 billion in federal dollars for the $600 a week Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits – bringing the total in federal and state trust fund payouts to around $2.5 billion since March 29.
Accommodation and food services still accounted for the highest number of initial claims in Colorado industries, at 13% of claims for the week ending May 30, from which the most recent data are available. Health care and social services, manufacturing, retail trade, and administrative, support, waste management and remediation services rounded out the other top 5 sectors with the highest number of initial claims for that week.
