Illinois processes nearly 800,000 unemployment claims

IDES Processes Over 750,000 Unemployment Claims Since March, Pays Out More Than $700 Million in Benefits

13 Week Extension of Benefits Through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation Now Live

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) today released new statewide data showing the department processed 102,937 new initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 18 and has now processed more than 755,000 initial unemployment claims from March 1 through April 18. This is 12 times the number of claims the department processed over the same period last year, when IDES processed just 61,000 initial unemployment claims.

From March 1 through April 16, the department paid out more than $700 million in benefits. In the first two weeks of April alone, IDES paid more than $500 million in unemployment benefits to claimants. Statewide unemployment claims data, which reflects activity for the week prior, will be available on the IDES website every Thursday afternoon.

This week, IDES rolled out the Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (FPEUC) program, which provides up to 13 weeks’ worth of federally funded benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular state unemployment benefits.

To date, IDES has overhauled its website infrastructure, expanded web and call center capacity, and secured third party vendor partnerships to further implement and streamline new programs that enhance filing capabilities. The department is also standing up a virtual call center, that will nearly double current call center capacity with Illinois-based call center representatives.

IDES waived the waiting week for claimants and implemented the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which provides an additional $600 each week in federally funded benefits to eligible Illinoisans. The CARES Act also created Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (FPUA), a new program for people who are not typically covered by the state’s unemployment system and the department is contracting with Deloitte to launch this system in May.

Those with questions or in need of assistance with unemployment benefits at this time are encouraged to visit IDES.Illinois.gov.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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