Initial claims for regular and pandemic unemployment rose for the ninth straight week in Colorado, according to a Thursday report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

For the week ending Dec. 19, there were 27,989 initial pandemic unemployment claims — the highest number of weekly pandemic claims since the program’s first week in April.

Compared to the previous week, initial pandemic claims rose by 7,368. That is the second-biggest weekly increase of all time, beaten only by the June 6-13 increase of 7,794.

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Regular initial unemployment claims also skyrocketed, hitting 24,397 for the week ending Dec. 19. That is the highest number since May 2 and an increase of more than 4,500 from the previous week.

After months of decline, continued regular unemployment claims rose for the third consecutive week, reaching 98,162 for the week ending on Dec. 12.

Before Nov. 28, the number of continued claims had decreased for 19 weeks in a row beginning in July. Continued claims hit their lowest with 79,121 claims on Nov. 21, making for an increase of nearly 20,000 in less than one month.

Continued claims for pandemic unemployment also increased, reaching 92,171 for the week ending on Dec. 19, the highest since July.

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Since March, Colorado has paid $6.6 billion in unemployment benefits, including $2.41 billion in regular unemployment and $962.1 million in pandemic unemployment.

Accommodation and food service workers make up the bulk of Colorado’s unemployed, accounting for 31.4% of unemployment claims for the week ending on Dec. 5.

They are followed by construction workers with 8.8% of claims and healthcare and social assistance workers with 8.3%.