In five weeks, three key federal benefit programs are set to end, which based on current counts could leave 98,000 Colorado residents without their primary source of unemployment benefits and another 36,000 without a supplemental $300 a week in federal assistance, according to a weekly update from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The final number cut-off likely won’t be that high, given that the state has 111,173 job openings posted on ConnectingColorado.com, its online job database, and initial unemployment claims continue to drop. That of course, assumes the quickly spreading delta variant doesn’t force another round of business closures.
Initial claims for regular state unemployment dropped to 3,317 for the week ending July 24, the lowest count since the pandemic started. That contrasts with 104,217 claims at the peak on the week that ended April 11, 2020, and an average of 1,900 claims a week in 2019.
“We are thrilled to see the number of weekly initial claims filed back on a downward trajectory and nearing our pre-pandemic levels,” Joe Barela, executive director of the CDLE, said in a release. “As Colorado’s economy begins to rebound, we’re focused now on connecting Coloradans to available work opportunities before the federally funded pandemic benefits end in the coming weeks.”
About 36,030 Coloradans collected regular state unemployment benefits during the week ended July 17, which remains about double the weekly rate averaged in 2019. That state program, however, will continue past the Sept. 6 deadline set for federal unemployment programs under the American Recovery Act.
There were 1,119 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program that provides unemployment compensation to self-employed workers who otherwise aren’t eligible for state benefits, for the week ending July 27. That contrasts with more than 40,906 claims on the peak week of April 25, 2020.
That new program, introduced for the first time during the pandemic, still had 25,223 continuing claims the week ended July 17, meaning a significant number of people face a cut-off in September if they don’t find an alternative source of income before then.
Eligible self-employed workers can still file an initial claim for up to 30 days beyond the deadline, but only against income lost during the full weeks prior to the deadline.
Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which assists the long-term unemployed who have exhausted their regular state benefits, is also set to go away. It supported 72,889 recipients the week ending July 17 and the number of claimants there has been on the rise the past three weeks.
A third program, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, provides about 36,000 Colorado residents with an additional $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits. It is also set to end on the week of Sept. 4.
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With five weeks left, nearly 100,000 Coloradans face loss of core federal unemployment benefits - Canon City Daily Record
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