The Illinois Department of Employment Security was ill-prepared to handle record numbers of unemployed workers when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, was slow to distribute federal help, exposed Illinoisans' private information, then lefts thousands on hold awaiting answers. Here's the latest.

Historic unemployment payouts related to the COVID-19 shutdowns left Illinois’ fund billions in the hole. State leaders did nothing to fix it, meaning there could be reduced benefits for the unemployed or higher taxes on employers trying to recover.

Illinois was among the nation’s worst for delays in helping gig workers and the self-employed receive pandemic assistance unemployment payments, a federal audit found. Rampant fraud and inadequate reporting was also discovered nationwide.

While total payrolls were up 300, private sector jobs took a beating in April and lost 4,000 positions. Illinois’ labor market completely stalled as the national economic recovery slowed.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security had a backlog of 156K calls in February. Now, over a year into the pandemic, its offices remain closed to the public and 43K Illinoisans are still awaiting a call from IDES.

A year into COVID-19 and 552,000 Illinois workers are still in need of jobs. Despite that, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is asking for as much as $2 billion in new taxes on the small businesses that create most Illinois jobs.

Bans on indoor dining and bar service continue to hurt Illinois jobs numbers, placing the state low in a national recovery ranking.

Illinois’ jobs numbers have slipped for the second time in the past three months as the rest of the nation steadily recovers.