Colorado reports lowest unemployment claims since March

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment announced Thursday that the state received the lowest number of unemployment claims since the pandemic hit in mid-March.

There were 5,837 regular initial unemployment claims filed and $65.9 million in regular unemployment benefits were paid out during the week ending Aug. 29.

Since mid-March, a total of 542,619 regular unemployment initial claims have been filed.

In Southern Colorado, the Pikes Peak Workforce Center says many open positions remain the same from before the pandemic hit, including jobs in healthcare, information technology, and cybersecurity.

"We've consistently seen during the pandemic, the fluctuation of open positions. Right now there are over 10,000 open positions in El Paso and Teller Counties, a significant amount of jobs," said Traci Marques with the center.

The Department has paid out nearly $4.8 billion in unemployment benefits since March 29th. That number includes regular unemployment benefits and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds.

That's where Marques and the center can help.

"We're actually able to help job seekers who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 get some up-skill and re-skill and retraining to get that job they didn't have before, but their ideal job. We're able to help guide them," she said.

As the holidays approach, she sees some potential for growth in the job market.

"We're starting to see more increase of hiring for retail for the upcoming holiday season. People are starting to do strategic hiring within that. We've seen it consistently slow down for us, but it's really now starting to get back," she said.