The Illinois Department of Employment Security has released new data showing the first impact of the COVID-19 shutdown. The state’s unemployment rate rose by 1.2 percent to 4.6 percent during March. The number of unemployed workers increased sharply during March as it rose by 33.6 percent to 292,300. The Illinois Department of Employment Security processed over 141-thousand new initial unemployment claims for the week ending on April 11th. As of March 1st, the department had processed more than 650,000 initial unemployment claims, 12 times more than a year ago.
Compared to a year ago there are 21,700 fewer workers employed in the Professional and Business Services category, 14,700 fewer workers in the Manufacturing sector, and the Leisure and Hospitality category has lost 13,000 jobs in Illinois compared to a year ago. But there were job gains in some areas compared to this time last year. Educational and Health Services has added 12,800 jobs and the Other Services category added 2,200 workers statewide.
In the upcoming weeks, IDES will roll out the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides up to 13 weeks of supplemental federally funded benefits for individuals who have exhausted their regular state unemployment benefits. IDES is also contracting with DeLoitte to launch a new benefit system in May for individuals who are not typically covered by the state’s unemployment program.
