Over 107,000 Unemployment Claims Filed In Illinois Last Week, A 45% Increase
CHICAGO (CBS)-- The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported 107,616 new unemployment claims were filed across the state last week, the week of Nov. 29, the most jobless claims the state has had in nearly eight months.
Illinois' estimated claims last week were among 853,000 total filed across the country.
The most recent claims represent a 45% decrease from the prior week, when 74,131 unemployment claims were filed statewide, and a 627% increase over the 14,798 new claims filed in the same week of 2019.
Illinois numbers have not been this high since mid-April, when there were over 141,000 claims filed the week of April 6.
There were 65,696 new unemployment claims filed across the state the week of Nov. 15.
There were 46,800 unemployment claims filed in Illinois the week of Nov. 8.
Illinois processed 67,158 unemployment claims the week of Nov. 1.
There were 73,515 unemployment claims filed in Illinois the week of Oct. 26.
Another 53,138 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Oct. 19 in Illinois.
A total of 46,948 new unemployment claims were filed across the state, the week of Oct. 12.
Since March, more than 2.3 million total unemployment claims have been filed in Illinois.
IDES has faced ongoing struggles filling claims during the pandemic. CBS 2 spoke with four IDES employees in May. For the first time, these workers offered a glimpse into the challenges IDES employees face daily working to get thousands of new unemployment claims processed, as well as the factors they believe contribute to why so many people have not received their benefits.
CBS 2 has extensively reported about how unemployment has surged in Illinois and neighboring states during the coronavirus pandemic.
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