Illinois’ Unemployment Problems Continue As Nation Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels

From The Center Square:

By Greg Bishop

While the national unemployment picture nears pre-pandemic levels, Illinois’ unemployment issues are among the worst in the country and could get worse.

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed over 713,000 new unemployment claims last week.

“But that’s actually a lot fewer than the 7 million [filers] during the peak of this pandemic, so we’re looking at a 90 percent reduction,” Gonzalez said. “That is definitely good news.”

Illinois, however, is going in the other direction.

Another 74,000 Illinoisans filed for unemployment benefits last week. That’s 8,500 more than filed the week before, and the largest weekly increase of any state. Gonzalez said that ranks Illinois at No. 46.

“No. 1 would have been the best, 46th is certainly a tumble and I think we will see numbers continuing to be in that bottom ten for the upcoming weeks,” she said.

For more rural states like Wyoming, which is second on WalletHub's list of states recovering, Gonzales said backpacking tourism continues to be a strong suit. The recovery also seems to have more to do with industries, rather than regional trends.

There are other trends.

“People are completely uprooting and going to some of these more rural spaces to start anew,” she said. “These people know that they’re probably never going back to the office.”

For Illinoisans unemployed because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said he is still fielding complaints from constituents having problems getting through the federally-funded state unemployment agency.

Butler said he gives the new director of the agency credit for being more transparent, “but this continues to be a huge problem for our state.”

“We need more resources at [Illinois Department of Employment Security],” Butler told WMAY. “They need to be more responsive. We need to make sure that people are getting the benefits that are due to them and taking care of people.”

The focus of the work of The Center Square Illinois is state- and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility. For more stories from The Center Square, visit TheCenterSquare.com.