(The Center Square) – New unemployment claims in Colorado have dropped for the seventh week in a row, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The state had 15,731 new jobless claims for the week ending on May 23, down from over 18,000 claims the week before. 

Colorado’s jobless claims peaked during the week ending April 11, with over 100,000 initial claims filed.  

Colorado’s stay-at-home order took effect on March 26, and was extended until April 26. In the 10 weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the national economy, Colorado has had 420,00 total new unemployment claims filed, according to federal data. 

Nationally, 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, with the 10-week total reaching over 40 million. 

“In the week ending May 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 2,123,000, a decrease of 323,000 from the previous week's revised level,” the department said in a news release.

This week, Gov. Jared Polis rolled out new guidelines to allow restaurants to offer dine-in service, which has been prohibited statewide since March 16. Under the guidelines, restaurants were permitted to begin offering dine-in service at 50 percent capacity on Wednesday.