Illinois unemployment claims increased approximately 6,000 during the last week of February — the third straight week numbers have been on the rise.
Illinois Policy Institute reported claims jumped to 74,151 for the week ending on Feb. 27, which is up from the 68,383 new total the week before.
The state's economy had some difficulties since Gov. J.B. Pritzker imposed stiffer shutdown restrictions, especially last November when he enacted bans on indoor services at all bars and restaurants.
With businesses still slowly picking up the pieces, the governor proposed nine new taxes totaling approximately $1 billion as part of his new budget plan.
With 2020 ending as the worse year for jobs in state history, all data points to the pandemic, and the governor's closure orders as a result, as the reason for hurting low-income households more than other factors. Low-income families and women are more often employed in the leisure and hospitality sector, an industry that suffered 40% more here in Illinois than across the rest of the country, the Illinois Policy Institute reported.
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