Denver, CO – Colorado exceeded 300,000 unemployment claims over the last five weeks according to a new report from the Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE).
Coloradans filed 67,334 initial unemployment claims in the week ending April 18, 2020. Over 30,000 initial claims were filed by self-employed and gig workers through a new application.
In the last four weeks, 279,199 initial claims were filed. That brings the five-week total over 300,000.
A staggering $74.1 million in benefits were paid out in the week ending April 18, 2020. That is over eight and a half times the weekly average in benefits paid before Polis shut down the state.
Colorado’s economy is in shambles, and we are not sure where the money is going to come from to keep paying these benefits. The economy needs to open up immediately to ease this burden and get Coloradans back to work.
Unfortunately, Governor Jared Polis’ reopening strategy is leaving many businesses closed. This so-called “reopening” is nothing but further restrictions on how businesses can operate. It is a continued shut down order for others still deemed “non-essential.”
It will not put the staggering number of unemployed Coloradans back to work, and it will not fix the tanking economy.
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