New jobless claims in May appear to level out By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois unemployment rate in Illinois reached a staggering 16.4 percent in April, the highest rate recorded since the modern system of tracking joblessness began in 1976, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said […]
Pritzker says call shows Republicans ‘lack confidence’ in their position By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – State Republican leadership is pushing for a vote in the upcoming legislative session to remove a graduated income tax amendment question from the November general election ballot. “Times have changed dramatically since this […]
‘Glitch’ allowed access to personal data in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance system By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security has confirmed that a new online portal that processes claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance briefly allowed public access to applicants’ personal information including Social Security […]
State budget among top items to be considered By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers will return to Springfield next week for the first time in more than two months to take up a state budget and other critical matters while following strict social distancing and public safety […]
Total claims since mid-March top 800,000 By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD — Unemployment in Illinois and the U.S. continues to balloon amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The state reported 81,596 first-time claims in the week ending April 25, during which time more than 3.8 million claims were submitted nationally. […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday that 4.4 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims during the week that ended April 18, including 102,936 workers in Illinois. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 520,227 workers in Illinois, or 8.2 percent of […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Top leaders of the Illinois House and Senate say there is still no timetable for calling lawmakers back into session, but they have launched a process for narrowing down the topics they’ll need to address whenever they do return. In recent weeks, both […]
‘Mass opening’ of businesses not coming May 1, he says By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Changes are coming to the stay-at-home order, Gov. JB Pritzker said again at his daily COVID-19 briefing Tuesday in Chicago, but it is unclear what they are and when they will happen. More […]
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) has released new statewide data showing the department processed over 141,000 new initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 11. Since March 1, the department has processed more than 650,000 initial unemployment claims, 12 times more than the number of claims over […]
Pritzker says agency is coping with unprecedented number of jobless claims By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Illinois House Republicans on Monday called on Gov. JB Pritzker to do more to handle the unprecedented volume of new claims for unemployment benefits coming into the Illinois Department of Employment Security, […]
