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At least 87,000 Coloradans will lose all pandemic unemployment benefits in two weeks

Federal programs that provided aid to gig workers and those who’ve exhausted regular unemployment end Sept. 4

Tamara Chuang
Colorado Sun

DENVER — With two weeks left of the federal unemployment program, more than 116,000 out-of-work Coloradans will be impacted by the end of federal relief, and 87,147 people will lose all benefits, state labor officials said.

“These federal programs are ending effective the week ending Sept. 4, which is the final week that claimants can request payment on the federal unemployment benefits program,” Philip Spesshardt, director of the state’s division of unemployment insurance, said Friday during a press conference.

That includes Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which paid unemployment benefits to gig workers and the self-employed for the first time ever, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which offered nearly a year’s worth of extended benefits to those who’d exhausted regular state claims. The $300 weekly bonus to anyone on unemployment also ends. As of Aug 14, 116,390 people were receiving that $300, officials said.



An additional 7,200 people are in their last few weeks of regular state unemployment, so they, too, will drop off the state’s unemployment rolls.

“As we get closer and closer to that week of Sept. 4, we continue to direct claimants to resources that will help them successfully return to the workforce,” Spesshardt added, noting that the state’s job board listed 122,170 job openings Friday.




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