IL Unemployment Explodes, Claims Delayed Amid Coronavirus

ILLINOIS — Since Illinois' statewide shutdown amid the stay-at-home order issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, nearly 300,000 workers have filed unemployment claims.

Pritzker ordered Illinois' bars and restaurants closed to dine-in customers on March 15, six days before the stay-at-home order took effect. That means restaurants are open in a limited capacity, slashing the need for staff like servers, and non-essential businesses are closed.

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The news comes amid an explosion of unemployment claims at the national level: 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment in the last week, data released Thursday shows. That's double the record high set just one week earlier, and the national unemployment rate could spike to as high as 15 percent this month, above the previous record set in 1982.

Before Illinois' stay-at-home order was issued — taking effect March 21 — Illinois was already among the states with the highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 14, with an unemployment rate of 2.1 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

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The latest data is evidence that the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis is worsening as more than two-thirds of the U.S. population — including the entire state of Illinois — is under stay-at-home orders.

The stay-at-home orders are aimed to mitigate the spread of the virus, which has now claimed more than 5,0100 American lives, including at least 141 Illinoisans as of Thursday morning. The state reported 6,980 confirmed coronavirus cases, a number that will undoubtedly rise in the days to come.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Illinois saw 178,133 unemployment applications filed the week of March 28 — a 56 percent increase over the week before. A total of 114,114 unemployment claims were filed in Illinois the week of March 21, for a total of 292,274 claims since the shutdown took effect.

Not enough funding to keep up with claims

On Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there isn’t enough money in Illinois' unemployment reserves to keep up with the demand for benefits. Asked whether the state has enough money, he said, "The answer is 'no,' but fortunately, the federal government in the latest stimulus package provided a significant amount of funding for unemployment. We are also allowed in a state to dip below the reserves that exist if we need to borrow from the federal government."

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According to the state, unemployment claims for March 2019 statewide totaled just 27,493.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) is feeling the crunch as it is inundated with unemployment applications. The agency also changed the hours during which it accepts and processes online claims, and its offices are closed to the public until further notice.

IDES said it was taking steps to address the "unprecedented volume" of unemployment claim, by adding call center staff, extending hours and moving the IDES website to a new hardware infrastructure to handle the increased demand.

How To File For Unemployment In Illinois In Coronavirus Shutdown

On Thursday morning, IDES issued a notice on its website saying, "Online filing and claims applications will not be available until 11 a.m."

Just after 1 p.m. Thursday, the IDES website issued another notice stating, "The online filing and claims applications is temporarily unavailable. We are working on the issues and apologize for the inconvenience."

Every night — for the foreseeable future — online filing and claims application will be unavailable from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"Thank you for your patience," the IDES website says, adding, "In order to process the extremely high volume of unemployment benefit claims due to COVID-19, IDES has implemented the following schedule for those filing claims online and over the phone."

Online filing schedule:

• Those with last names beginning with letters A-M will be asked to file their claims on Sundays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays.
• Those with last names beginning with letters N-Z will be asked to file their claims on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays.
• Saturdays will be available for anyone to accommodate those who could not file during their allotted window.

Call center filing schedule:

• Those with last names beginning with letters A-M will be asked to call on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 7:30am – 6pm.
• Those with last names beginning with letters N-Z will be asked to call on Mondays and Wednesdays between 7:30am – 6pm.
• Fridays, from 7:30am – 6pm, will be available for anyone to accommodate those who could not file during their allotted window.

The day or time of day in which a claim is filed will not impact whether you receive benefits or your benefit amount, IDES said. Additionally, claims will be back-dated to reflect the date on which a claimant was laid-off or let go from their job due to COVID-19.