Colorado's Unemployed To Lose $600 In Benefits Starting July 25

DENVER, CO — Unless something changes, unemployment applicants will see their weekly checks drop by $600 after July 25. Additional federal benefit funds from the CARES Act are set to expire, but Coloradans will continue to receive their regular unemployment benefits.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has paid out around $3.5 billion in unemployment benefits since March 29; however, a portion of that funding came from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, which provide claimants an additional $600 each week.

Benefits paid since March 29 in Colorado:

• Regular UI: $1.22 billion
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (gig workers/self-employed): $397.8 Million
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ($600/weekly UI benefits to eligible claimants): Around $1.90 billion

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Coloradans filed more than 10,500 unemployment claims during the week ending July 11, state officials said. There were also 5,420 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims filed for the same week. Since mid-March, 633,407 claims, including federal benefits, have been filed in Colorado.