In Colorado, 8,486 new unemployment claims were filed the week ending July 18, reported Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Thursday. Although this is down about 2,000 from the previous week, it’s more than four times the weekly average of new claims in 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic has created job losses in every sector of the economy, according to a report in High Country News.

“In just three months, COVID-19 wiped out more than twice as many jobs as were lost during the entire Great Recession of 2008,” stated High Country News.

Nationally, unemployment is growing. A report from the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday showed an increase last week of about 1 million new unemployment applications for state benefits compared with the previous two weeks, according to the New York Times.

From coal mines to tourist towns and dairy farms, people are hurting. In hospitality, one of the hardest hit sectors, 7 million jobs were lost between January and May 2020, while 10 million were retained, the HCN report said. Clean energy, which saw disrupted supply chains and restrictions on construction, lost more than 600,000 jobs.