Colorado workers laid off this year are facing long searches for new jobs as employers add positions slowly, leaving some applicants approaching the end of their unemployment benefits with no new paycheck in sight. Cheryl Huff, who lost her Colorado state government job four months ago, has applied for dozens of positions and received only a handful of phone interviews. She spends hours tailoring each application, but often gets automated messages — sometimes contradictory ones from the same employer. Colorado provides up to six months of unemployment benefits. Huff’s payments are scheduled to end in early December. She is also paying $1,300 a month to continue her health insurance from her former employer. With her husband retired, she said their household is relying on his Social Security and her unemployment payments. “It’s amazing how little money that is when you go to the store,” Huff said, describing the strain of everyday costs. The state’s job seekers are contending with a broader slowdown in hiring. U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September, or about one job for every 244 unemployed workers. The national unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, but nearly 2 million of the country’s more than 7 million unemployed people had been out of work for six months or longer. Nearly four in 10 people exhaust their unemployment benefits before landing another job. Evan Smith lost his job at a Colorado RV dealership in the spring after the company was sold. He has submitted numerous applications but said competition is intense, with some postings drawing more than 100 applicants. The search can feel like a full-time job, he said, and keeping up morale is difficult. The consequences extend beyond lost wages. Huff said she has felt dismissed by employers’ impersonal application systems. Smith said he sometimes takes a hike to step away from the pressure of looking for work. The length of support varies widely by state. Colorado’s six-month limit is longer than North Carolina’s 12 weeks. Keke Moore, a Raleigh meeting planner who lost her job last December, said her benefits — capped at $350 a week — ran out, and her 21-year-old son has helped cover household bills. For people still searching, a low overall unemployment rate offers little relief. “When you’re one of the people that doesn’t have a job, it doesn’t really matter what the percentage is,” Huff said. “It’s impacting your life in a big, big way.”