Weekly jobless claims increase to 6,031; Polis orders $375 relief payments

DENVER — An additional 6,031 people filed for traditional unemployment benefits in the week ending Oct. 17, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said Thursday, a drop of 507 from the previous week.

Also, 2,973 people in Colorado applied for state-level Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in that week, which is assistance for gig workers, the selfemployed and others who wouldn’t normally qualify for regular benefits. That amounts to an increase of 441 from the week before.

That specific assistance at the federal level, along with a $600 per week additional benefit for all claims, expired in August, with both chambers of Congress and the White House unable to pass a new round of stimulus packages before the election this week.

Gov. Jared Polis cited that inaction in an executive order Wednesday, ordering a one-time payment of $375 to approximately 435,000 state residents who filed for unemployment between March and October of this year and who make less than $52,000 a year. That money is expected to be distributed in December.

The order is projected to provide $168 million to recipients, most of which will be reimbursed by transferring Medicaid-related fees paid by hospitals into a Labor Department disaster fund.

The total number of continuing claims made in the state was at 221,036 for the week of Oct. 17, which includes all state and federal assistance programs.

The amount of regular benefits paid out by the department declined by $1.7 million from the previous week to $39.8 million.