If you are self-employed and applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance last year, please take note: A major change in the federal Paycheck Protection Program may make more sense than sticking with unemployment. The change allows sole proprietors to apply for a loan based on gross income, rather than net income. It went into effect Friday. […]
State Extended Benefits
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What’s Working: Colorado’s unemployment system is … working? Some readers say “yes.”
Getting unemployment pay in Colorado was not problem-free this week. But after two months with no benefits for thousands, this week brought joy as money finally made it to bank accounts — and offered hope to others still waiting. I’m talking about Kevin Saunders, the fellow from Parker who was crushed after reopening his claim […]
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After eight weeks of waiting, nearly 300,000 Coloradans can reopen their unemployment accounts Saturday
Thousands of out-of-work Coloradans who’ve been waiting for federal benefits to restart can reopen their unemployment accounts on Saturday — about eight weeks after the last federal relief plan was approved by lawmakers. Officials from the Colorado Department of Employment and Labor said the reopening comes two days sooner than expected. And they’ve already notified […]
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What’s Working: As exhausted Coloradans on unemployment wait for benefits, the next federal plan must pass soon to avoid delays
Not to be a drag here, but we’re down to one month before the existing federal coronavirus relief package providing extra unemployment benefits is set to end. The Continued Assistance Act, passed by federal lawmakers on Dec. 27, provided 11 weeks of extended unemployment benefits plus a bonus $300 per week until March 14 (or […]
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The restart of Colorado’s federal unemployment benefits has been uneven as thousands wait for their turn
Monday brought relief to more than 60,000 out-of-work Coloradans who were able to request federal benefits for the first time in five weeks — and that included a $300 weekly bonus retroactive to Dec. 27, the start of the federal COVID relief package. “I was able to request all the way back until Dec. 27,” […]
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What’s Working: Here’s how Colorado is rolling out federal unemployment benefits, plus Paycheck loans are hopping
The biggest news of the week, at least for unemployed Coloradans, is that federal benefits could start as soon as Jan. 29. No need to remind the unemployed what those are, but let’s do it anyway: This is the $300 weekly bonus for 11 weeks, otherwise known as Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC). The state […]
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What’s Working: Small business funding available, back to business in 2021, Colorado unemployment updates and more
If you’re reading this, you’ve made it past the first day of 2021. Congratulations! We can look forward to wider availability of COVID-19 vaccinations (people 70 and older are now eligible). We welcome surviving businesses to ramp back up sooner than later — Gov. Jared Polis has already asked the health department to ease up […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Politics and Government
Here’s how Colorado’s unemployed influenced the new federal coronavirus relief bill
Last-minute changes to the federal relief plan passed late Monday aren’t as rosy as some on unemployment had hoped when the proposal made its way through Congress last week. But the new plan, which picks up where the CARES Act ends on Dec. 26, extends jobless benefits for 11 weeks, instead of 16, and has […]
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What’s Working: CARES Act II inches closer as 280,000 Coloradans will lose unemployment benefits day after Christmas
By the time you read this, there could be a new federal COVID-19 relief package on its way to the Oval Office for the president’s signature, which is good timing since roughly 280,000 Coloradans will lose their unemployment benefits on the day after Christmas. But it was a rough Friday evening as Congress couldn’t come […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News
A glitch in Colorado’s unemployment system kept thousands from accessing federal coronavirus aid
Coloradans cut off from unemployment pay made one last dash for the remaining federal benefit they’re eligible for, only to find themselves stymied by the state’s jobless aid system. “A lot of us are going to be impacted this week and not get any payments at all because of the system glitch,” Brooklyn Ford, an […]