“Eight years ago, I got married and had two boys and was divorced before my youngest was 2. I had a baby and a toddler and I was out on my own. I never had anything in my name and I learned you couldn’t even get a phone bill without having previous credit. Two years...
New jobless claims remain several times higher than last year as state begins to test re-opening.
Record April job losses hurt some communities even more than Illinois’ statewide decline of 13.4%.
More than 1 in 5 black and Hispanic female workers in Illinois lost their jobs during the first month of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“I’ve spoken to several other bar owners [who] are like, ‘We’re in the exact same boat.’ I’m waiting for a serious miracle. [But] I don’t think that’s going to happen."
“[The lockdown] has just really, really put a dent in my income ... a huge dent to this point. I tried to apply for unemployment. But I make $50 a week too much, and that was me only netting $150 a week."
Nearly 1 in 4 Illinoisans find themselves out of work, more than all border states except Kentucky.
Citing the lack of action on the state unemployment claims system overwhelmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a state lawmaker begins the process to remove Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker from office.
Very few people have been commuting to work since Illinois’ stay-at-home order began at the end of March, which could mean tax and fare troubles are ahead for Chicago’s mass transit.
Record job losses hit the state during the first full month of COVID-19 economic fallout.
Just as Illinois opened its unemployment system to self-employed workers, the new system exposed Social Security numbers and other private information of 32,483 applicants, according to a Freedom of Information Act response.
"It’s really hard to put a new budget together and say this is where we’re going to end up. We know we can’t keep going like this for a long period of time."
Self-employed and gig workers were finally allowed to file for benefits last week, driving the total to nearly 1.1 million Illinoisans seeking help since COVID-19 hit the state’s economy.
“My store is closed. The morning I had to explain to my staff that I had to lay them off, I cried."