Denver, CO – Colorado unemployment claims are accelerating according to a newly released report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE).
Over the past three weeks, 127,393 initial claims have been filed. An astounding 46,065 initial claims were filed in the week ending April 4, 2020. Accommodation and food service claims for the week ending March 21, 2020, tally 12,411 alone! There are over 60,000 payment requests made since March 6, 2020.
Colorado is in trouble.
According to KRDO, nearly a quarter-million Coloradans are expected to file initial claims by the end of this week. That is an increase of well over 100,000 this week and indicates an accelerated loss of jobs in Colorado’s economy.
In fact, the CDLE itself said they are struggling to predict where job losses are coming from.
As the economy continues to crash, more and more struggling businesses are being forced to let workers go. Gig workers are filing for unemployment because gig jobs are in low demand due to “Stay at Home” and shutdown orders. Small businesses that lack customers are being forced to cut hours and eliminate positions.
On top of all this, the government is issuing cease and desist and closure orders to many businesses that remain open.
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Many people are unlikely to even file for unemployment despite being out of work. So these statistics are just a snapshot of the damage Polis’ “Stay at Home” order is doing.
It is unclear how quickly the economy will recover when the “Stay at Home” order is finally lifted. While the economy will bounce back faster under President Donald Trump than it did under Obama, it will not happen overnight.
Our concern is, with this many people out of work for so long, there will not be enough money in people’s pockets to jumpstart things as quickly as everyone hopes. There will likely be a lag in time where businesses that have not closed permanently struggle to get back on their feet, even with massive stimulus packages on the way.
In the meantime, the economic situation in Colorado is only deteriorating while Polis’ “Stay at Home” order remains in place for over two more weeks.
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