Colorado unemployment claims hit nearly 9-month high as CARES Act expires
State officials blame a surge of likely fraudulent filings for the biggest increase in first-time unemployment claims since April, according to data released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
For the week ending Jan. 2, initial weekly unemployment claims reached 41,439, the highest number of claims in nearly nine months and an increase of 63.4%, or more than 16,000, from the previous week. Initial claims in the state have increased for 11 consecutive weeks.
In a news release, the department pointed to several factors behind the increase in claims last week, but said the majority of claims are likely fraudulent. A special program for self-employed persons, independent contractors and “gig” workers, called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, has been repeatedly hit by nationwide waves of fraudulent filings. That fraud has now jumped to the state’s regular unemployment program that covers payroll workers.
“As reported earlier this week, the increase in reports of UI (unemployment insurance) fraud is likely connected to the expiration of CARES Act programs,” the department said, adding it “will be conducting further detailed analysis on the increase.”
In the latest county-level data, from the week ending Dec. 19, Denver County made up the largest share of initial claims with 3,986, or more than 15% of the statewide total. El Paso County has the second-highest total at 3,359 claims.
Continued unemployment claims also increased for the fifth consecutive week, reaching 109,373 claims for the week ending Dec. 26. This comes after 19 consecutive weeks of declines from July to November.
No PUA claims were filed for the week ending Jan. 2 since the program initially expired Dec. 26.
During the final week of the program, there were 19,555 initial PUA claims in Colorado, the third-highest number of weekly claims in the program’s history.
The PUA program was extended through March 13 through the Continued Assistance Act approved by Congress last month; however, the department said it will be “several weeks” before it can implement the continued programs.
Colorado had the second-worst unemployment recovery in the country last week, according to a WalletHub study.
The state’s health care and social assistance industries appear to be being hit the hardest, making up 11.2% of initial unemployment claims for the week ending on Dec. 19.
They were followed by education workers with 10.8% of claims and construction workers with 10.4%.





