Though the number of new unemployment claims in Colorado remained basically flat from the prior week, 1,567 previously unemployed Coloradans took full-time jobs this week for a chance at a $1,600 bonus from the state.

This week also marks the end of weekly update reports from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment on the number of new unemployment insurance claims.

The department reported 4,119 new regular claims were filed by payroll workers the week ending May 21, basically flat with 4,132 filed the previous week.

Self-employed, contract or “gig” workers filed an additional 877 claims under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which continues a two-week trend of rising new claims.

Those contract worker claims drove the combined total up 3.1% from the week ending May 15, the first increase in total new claim level in weeks.

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For the past 14 months, the department has issued the weekly report. But as the economy recovers with increased vaccination levels and decreasing restrictions, that practice ends Thursday.

The weekly report was never really necessary with just incremental shifts in weekly numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down whole industries and sent unemployment numbers to record levels in March 2020.

Since Sunday, 1,567 previously unemployed Coloradans took full-time jobs and will claim $1,600 if they hold those positions under the state’s new Jumpstart program.

The new incentive program allows those who have received at least $25 in unemployment insurance benefits from March 28 to May 15 to earn up to $1,600 if they get back to work before the month is out.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the executive order last week, as many employers in certain sectors, especially restaurants and service industry, have had a hard time filling open positions.

Jumpstart applicants have to complete the ID.ME identification requirements. They’ll also have to stay employed for eight weeks.

Those who return to full-time work in June will be eligible for a $1,200 incentive. All the eligibility requirements can be found on ColoradoUI.gov.

Contract, self-employed or “gig” workers who were covered by the federal program are not eligible for Jumpstart.

April’s unemployment rate stood at 6.4%, unchanged from March. Colorado’s unemployment rate remains above the national rate of 6.1%.

The department also issued a new set of new weekly unemployment claim numbers dating back to Jan. 10.

After it implemented the new anti-fraud programs run by ID.ME, the number of new regular claims in that time period decreased by 86,650 and contract-worker claim numbers were slashed by 5,583.

Looking back at the original numbers provided vs. the revised numbers, it’s obvious when ID.ME controls really kicked in the week before April 10. That’s when the number of fraudulent claims fell from as high as 63% for the week ending March 6 to just 6% for the week ending May 8.

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“We began notifying continued claimants that ID.me would be required for all claimants at the end of March, which would be the week prior to the week ending April 10,” a department spokeswoman said in an email statement.

“We made this decision when we continued to see a large percentage of fraud holds being applied to the claims being filed. However, we actually implemented ID.me in January.”

All told, the number of new claims paid since March 2020 was revised down from the 1,195,287 last reported by the department May 6 to 1,117,904 reported Thursday. That’s a difference of 77,383 claims, which appears to be the number of fraudulent claims paid.

The department reported it has paid $9.47 billion in legitimate claims since March 2020.