The Illinois Department of Employment Security says it’s processing unprecedented levels of unemployment claims.
Since March 1st, the department has processed more than a million unemployment claims. That’s 10 times more claims than were processed last year. Spokesman Sam Salustro said a key focus has been upgrading state systems to process the filings.
“Our goal here at the Department of Employment Security is to connect people with the benefits that they’re owed," he said. "We’re working as hard as possible to do that. We’ve paid over $1.7 billion in benefits to claimants since March 1st.”
Salustro said the state government is extending loans to small businesses and worker and tenant protections to residents facing hardship. He also noted IDES is likely to hold various digital career fairs in the future.