Illinois Department of Employment Security is making changes to improve its website and the unemployment claim process to address a surge in the number of unemployment claims.
In the first three weeks of March, Illinoisans filed 130,000 unemployment benefit claims, an increase of close to 400 percent compared to the same time period in 2019. The department received close to 115,000 claims for the week of March 21 alone, an increase of nearly 1,400% compared to the same time period in 2019. The Illinois Department of Employment Security call center is fielding hundreds of calls per minute, state officials said.
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Illinois Department of Employment Security is making changes to improve its website and the unemployment claim process to address a surge in the number of unemployment claims.
In the first three weeks of March, Illinoisans filed 130,000 unemployment benefit claims, an increase of close to 400 percent compared to the same time period in 2019. The department received close to 115,000 claims for the week of March 21 alone, an increase of nearly 1,400% compared to the same time period in 2019. The Illinois Department of Employment Security call center is fielding hundreds of calls per minute, state officials said.
