The number of new jobless claims in Colorado continues to drop, logging the sixth consecutive week of declining regular claims, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Thursday.

There were 9,305 new regular unemployment claims for the week ending April 3, a 9% slide from the previous week, CDLE reported. It marks the lowest weekly total of new regular claims filed in 2021, beating last week’s lowest total of 10,268.

New claims filed by contract and self-employed workers stood at 2,180 for the same week — up slightly from the 1,747 claims filed the previous week. Those workers are covered by the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

The total number of new claims for payroll, self-employed and contractor workers was 11,485 for the week ending April 3, also a decline from last week’s total new claims of 12,015.

Colorado’s unemployment rate stood at 6.6%, unchanged from January.

CDLE reports that 1,164,455 total claims have been filed since March 2020, and that $8.66 billion has been paid.