The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) reported an 82% increase the week of Feb. 8 from the previous week with a total of 62,369 new unemployment claims being filed.
The previous week, there were only 34,259 initial jobless claims. This time last year, there were only 8,045 initial jobless claims, meaning there was a 675% increase over the year.
IDES believes the increase could have been caused by seasonal jobs and construction jobs related to the weather. Some industries also had layoffs, such as construction, general government, hospitals and elementary and secondary schools, CBS2 reported.
Since last March, there have been nearly 3.1 million unemployment claims in Illinois. The latest set of claims is 7% of the 861,000 filed nationwide.
From Jan. 4 until Jan. 18, initial unemployment claims were approximately 95,000 each week. They dropped the week of Feb. 1 before jumping again. In November and December, initial jobless claims ranged from 45,000 to 145,000.
The Illinois Policy Institute notes that in November, claims spiked because of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Tier 3 mitigation mandates where he closed all indoor services at restaurants and bars.
“The number of requests for unemployment benefits was 67,750 for the week ending Feb. 13, up from 34,259 the week before,” the institute reported. “There were 279,648 Illinoisans receiving benefits as of Feb. 6, which was down 13,140 from the prior week. Benefits data lags initial claims data by a week.”
The institute reported that the new claims are likely because employers are facing newer restrictions. The state’s current COVID-19 seven-day positivity rate is 2.9%.
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