The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) today released new statewide data showing the department processed over 141,000 new initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 11. As of March 1, the department has processed more than 650,000 initial unemployment claims, 12 times more than the number of claims over the corresponding time period last year, when it processed 53,000 initial unemployment claims. It is also five times greater than the amount processed during the first six weeks of the Great Recession.
The unemployment rate rose +1.2 percentage points to 4.6 percent, while nonfarm payrolls lost -34,100 jobs in March. This reflects the initial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Illinois businesses and households, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. The February monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report from -200 to -11,400 jobs.
