Tamara Chuang
Business/Technology Reporter
Quick links: Fed claims by day | Shrinking federal workforce | Colorado unemployment up 28% | Why tech firms picked Denver | Pagosa Springs broadband | Ski patrol’s tentative union contract | Take the reader poll
At least 619 federal workers in Colorado have filed a claim for state unemployment benefits since Oct. 1, the day the government shutdown began, according to state labor officials.
Not all claims are part of the federal funding lapse, though. The start of the shutdown coincided with the culmination of the deferred resignation program that President Donald Trump announced in January. About 154,000 reportedly took the offer, which allowed federal employees to quit their jobs but get paid through Sept. 30. They may be eligible for unemployment.
Last week, 289 claims from federal workers were filed, which was “the highest volume in one week since the start of the year,” a state labor department spokesperson said in an email.
The numbers grew even larger this week, with another 330 coming in as of Thursday for a total of 619 so far.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has been through this before. During the last federal government shutdown that started Dec. 22, 2018, nearly 3,000 federal workers in Colorado filed for unemployment before the government reopened 35 days later.
This time, the agency prepared an unemployment guide for federal workers and set up a dedicated 16-person team to help “all aspects of federal claims” due to the shutdown.
When furloughed workers apply for unemployment, they need to check the box asking if the claim is due to the government shutdown. They should also pick “layoff” as the reason for the job separation and “Yes” on the return-to-work date though the agency believes that not all furloughed employees have done that, which makes pulling out just shutdown claims challenging.
But those who do check the box “will be adjudicated relatively quickly,” a spokesperson said. Typically, filing a claim for the first time usually takes four to six weeks to process.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment office in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on Dec. 8, 2024. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)Furloughed workers who do receive unemployment benefits must repay the amount to the state once the shutdown ends. The workers are expected to receive back pay, as guaranteed by a law passed in the first Trump administration, though Trump has said that “some people don’t deserve to be taken care of,” The Associated Press reported. On Friday, Russell Vought, director of the federal Office of Management and Budget said job cuts have begun, which impacts “thousands of federal workers” began, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The American Federation of Government Employees called for an end to the shutdown this week. “Federal employees are not bargaining chips,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “They are veterans, caregivers, law enforcement officers, and neighbors who serve their country and fellow Americans every day. They deserve stability and respect, not pink slips and political games.”
This weekend will also be the last paycheck for furloughed workers, and it’ll be less than usual since the shutdown started midweek last week.
“The shutdown continues on with no end in sight. Federal workers across the country are counting the days until their first missed paycheck, while many are navigating confusion over rights, pay, and job security,” the Federal Workers Legal Defense Network, which is providing information and legal support to workers, said in a statement.
➔ Are you a federal worker impacted by the government shutdown or job reductions? Share your story by emailing tamara@coloradosun.com
Federal workforce shrinking in Colorado
The federal workforce has been declining all year in Colorado. State labor data shows that before the shutdown, nearly 1,200 federal workers had filed for unemployment in the state since Jan. 19. That number should be closer to 1,800, though the labor department won’t update the figure until next week.
But in looking at past federal labor data, Colorado had 54,300 federal workers before the shutdown. That’s dropped by about 2,700 since January. The data is based on survey estimates so it shouldn’t be equated to people, the labor department noted. The numbers exclude federal contractors and the military.
The top five federal agencies impacted in Colorado so far this year were the Department of Agriculture, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Park Service.
Attendees gather for speeches during a site demonstration Monday, March 3, 2025, outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) campus along South Broadway in Boulder. The protest was organized by former U.S. Representative David Skaggs following the mass firing of probationary federal workers at NOAA. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)➔ Related: Last week, Colorado’s first-time unemployment claims increased 28% for the week ending Oct. 4 from the prior week to 3,254 filers. That increase included four days of the federal shutdown. Such data, usually released weekly by the U.S. Department of Labor, is on hold during the federal appropriations lapse.
As of Thursday, the number of this week’s first-time claims is 2,762, based on just five days of data. Continued claims, which are workers approved for benefits and are still searching for work, were at 31,097 as of Oct. 4.
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Tech companies still pick Denver area for same reasons
At last week’s DenAI Summit, many sessions had less to do with artificial intelligence than the humans behind the technology companies using AI. The “Building the Silicon Valley of the New West: Why founders are betting on Denver,” revealed how far three companies have come since picking the area to plant their business.
“We’re a startup that has raised a little over $70 million and have about 80 employees. Almost 90% are based here in Colorado,” said Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell Quantum, which builds very cold refrigerators for the quantum computing industry. “Being in quantum, there is nowhere better in the world to build a quantum startup than here in Colorado. It’s not even close.”
Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell Quantum, talks about how he picked Denver to plant his quantum company during a session at the DenAI Summit on Sept. 30. (Provided by DenAI)Maybell helped lead the effort to get the Denver-Boulder region picked as an official U.S. Tech Hub for quantum computing, which came with millions in public funding to help commercialize the technology. And it’s attracting quantum companies from around the globe.
But Tillemann-Dick, who in a past life cofounded the Denver office of the Boston Consulting Group, said a big reason he’s here is because he’s “born and bred” in Denver even if he left for New York for other jobs. “I fully expected to have to move when I decided I wanted to start Maybell,” he shared during the DenAI panel. “My instinct was I needed to go somewhere else to do it. And as I dug in, it felt like we could get away with doing it here. … This is home. This is where I want to be.”
That sentiment was shared by fellow panelist Gadalia Montoya Weinberg O’Bryan, a former NSA cryptomathematician and now founder and CEO of Dapple Security in Centennial.
“I lived here, so it wasn’t a choice of moving here to start the company. But I definitely didn’t feel like I needed to move away,” she said. “I felt like we had the resources here, including early-stage VC, which has been really pivotal for Dapple. The investors that are here really influenced the trajectory of the company.”
Dapple, which has raised $3.5 million in early funding, is developing software to help people protect their privacy.
Hayfa Aboukier (far left) with RangeVentures interviews a panel of Denver-area tech founders at DenAI Summit. Next to Aboukier is Gadalia Montoya Weinberg O’Bryan, founder and CEO of Dapple Security; Mark Frank, CEO of SonderMind; and Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell Quantum. (Provided by DenAI)Mark Frank, CEO of SonderMind, said he spent time in Colorado in 2000 when he was in the Army and moved to Denver in 2009 before starting the health-tech company in 2014 to improve personalized mental health access and care. For him, it was more, “Why didn’t I move away to build a business?” he said. “I wanted to live here.”
He also credited the health companies before SonderMind that picked Denver, like kidney-care services DaVita Inc., which announced its headquarters move to Denver in 2009. “That put Denver and Colorado on the map for health care,” Frank said. “We had a lot of people who then left DaVita over the next 10 to 15 years and (they) have become leaders that don’t want to leave.”
The company, which has since raised nearly $200 million from private investors, also found the talent it needed as it was starting up. It now employs about 300 people, though only about 30% are in Colorado. “I would love for them all to be here,” he said. “I really believe in in-person work, and I think that’s much more effective. But the reality of the world today is that for us to put Pandora back in the box is really difficult.”
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Other working bits
Construction on US Route 160 in Pagosa Springs, Colorado in October, 2021. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)➔ Fiber broadband expands in Pagosa Springs. Visionary Broadband has built out fiber internet service with speeds of up to 5 gigabits to 1,028 underserved homes and businesses in Pagosa Springs, largely thanks to a $3.9 million grant from the federal Capital Projects Fund. Grants were offered because in rural areas of the state that have subpar broadband service or none at all, no one was willing to serve them.
Visionary CEO Brian Worthen said the area was challenging due to rocky terrain in the widespread community but he’s proud that residents should no longer feel isolated, including “the remote area between Lake Pagosa and Lake Hatcher.” Expect more rural coverage as ISPs awarded CPF dollars last year build out their service.
> Read more in Powder
➔ Denver’s Populus hotel gets a Michelin. A Michelin Key, that is. In the second year of the Michelin Guide’s Key award for hotels, the architecturally eye-catching Populous is now considered “A very special stay.” It joins three other Denver Keys: The Crawford Hotel, Clayton Hotel and Four Seasons Denver. The city has been racking up honors, as well as Michelin Stars for its culinary scene ever since the state’s tourism office began paying to promote the Michelin Guide two years ago. Beyond the four Michelin Keys, the city also has a dozen “Selected” hotels in the guide.
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Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara
Miss a column? Catch up:
How Trump’s pick of Fort Collins as new USDA hub could impact Colorado A Colorado firm struggling to hire staff has no job openings — and that’s the new plan While AI and quantum were big attractions, Colorado Startup Week was about founders Colorado Startup Week debuts in Front Range to reignite founder fever Aging in Colorado is expensive. Here’s what’s being done about it Rural Colorado taps into the flow of geothermal development. Why Colorado’s flat home-sale prices may be worse than they look Why Colorado’s job numbers keep getting revised Google Fiber skips public funding, expands gigabit internet in ColoradoWhat’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.
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