New state unemployment figures — the highest in more than 20 years — triggered a 13-week extension in federal unemployment benefits, making it possible for unemployed Coloradans to receive a total of 59 weeks of assistance.
Seasonally adjusted unemployment in February reached a staggering 7.2 percent, a level the state has not seen since 1988, according to data released Friday.
To qualify for the additional 13 weeks of Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a state’s three-month average unemployment must be 6 percent or greater. In January, the rate was 6.6 and December’s was 5.8.
“The duration of these claims is longer as the recession goes on and gets deeper,” said Mike Cullen, director of the State’s Unemployment Insurance Program.
The maximum 59 weeks is made up of the state’s 26 weeks of unemployment insurance, the first federal extension of 20 weeks, given last summer, and the additional 13-week extension.
The extension program was approved by the Bush administration last year but was scheduled to end this spring. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act extended the program through the end of the year, with payments going through March 2010.
Experts say unemployment will continue to increase through the end of the year.
“The same thing is going on in Colorado that is going on everywhere. We are losing jobs,” said Tucker Hart Adams, president of the Adams Group, an economic research and consulting firm in Colorado Springs. “We’ve got a tough year ahead of us.”
Fifty-one Colorado counties saw joblessness increase in February, and nearly 200,000 are unemployed in the state.
“In the early fall, credit markets froze up, and once that happened, it became this phenomena that no business, no industry, no state or no metro area could escape,” said Alexandra Hall, chief economist for the Colorado Department of Labor.
The state estimates that about 10,000 people will be eligible for the extended benefit, said Cher Haavind, spokeswoman for the Labor Department. The state reports that there currently are about 60,000 people on unemployment.
The department will mail letters to those who meet the requirements for the 13-week extension. Eligible candidates are those who have a newly exhausted claim or who have used the first 20-week extension given by the federal government.
For Paul Stamsen of Delta, the extension would be welcome relief. His tier-one unemployment ran out in February.
Stamsen, who cares for his disabled wife, receives $160 every two weeks, in addition to his Social Security check, which goes directly to their mortgage.
“It just takes a lot of pressure off our day-to-day life. I hope it will give me some time to find another job,” said the 67-year-old.
