DENVER (AP) – The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment says an unusual spike in new unemployment claims in the week after Christmas was caused by fraudsters. New unemployment claims from out-of-work Colorado residents increased 63.4% in the week after Christmas compared to the week prior. The state labor department says it will conduct a more detailed investigation into what happened. The spike in Colorado did not coincide with a spike nationwide. The Colorado Sun reported that seasonally adjusted new claims in the U.S. declined by 3,000 to 737,000 for the week ending January 2.
