39,000 file jobless claims in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – The state of Illinois had slight decreases in the number of people filing first-time unemployment claims as well as the number of people receiving continuing benefits during the week that ended July 4.

But those gains were more than offset by increases in the number of people applying for and receiving benefits under another program designed for people who don’t qualify for traditional unemployment benefits.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday that it processed 39,015 initial unemployment claims during the week, which was shortened by the Independence Day holiday weekend. That was down from 43,934 initial claims filed the previous week, a decline of 11%.

At the same time, however, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a sharp increase in first-time claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the federally-funded program for independent contractors and others who don’t qualify for traditional unemployment insurance.

Initial filings under that program rose 31% to 42,785.

That brought the total number of people filing first-time claims under both programs to 87,682, up from 78,339 the week before.

Those numbers mirrored national trends as many states, including Illinois, have started reopening their economies. Nationwide, initial claims for traditional unemployment benefits fell 2%, to 1.4 million, while initial PUA claims rose more than 4% to just over 1 million.

Meanwhile, the number of Illinois workers receiving continuing benefits under traditional unemployment insurance fell to 667,460, a decline of about 1.4% from the previous week.

Data on continuing benefits in the PUA program lags behind that of the traditional unemployment program by two weeks. The Department of Labor said 108,112 people in Illinois were receiving continuing PUA benefits during the week that ended June 20.