More than 72,000 Illinoisans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but Republican lawmakers said they’re still hearing for out-of-work constituents frustrated with the state's unemployment office.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Thursday release of job numbers reported that of the 2.9 million people who filed across the country last week, 72,993 claims were filed in Illinois.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said that the state’s unemployment office has been doing its best to handle the record number of unemployment applications, but Republican state lawmakers said there are many others who have been waiting for months to get their benefits.
“We have had 90 to 95 percent of the calls we have received have been about the Department of Employment Security,” said state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville. “States like Texas and even Iowa right next door have been sending out checks to these folks for weeks.”
State Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond, echoed the complaint volume issues.
“This is the most frustrated I have ever seen people,” she said. “The fact that the governor is defending any of that system is really disappointing because it is failing a lot of people.”
The Illinois Department of Employment Security opened its expanded unemployment benefits program on Monday to temporary, part-time, contract and gig workers, but some applicants have said they’re not able to navigate the process to get their benefits.
The expanded benefits come from the federal government under the Pandemic Unemployment Act, or PUA. The act allows workers who would not normally qualify for state-allotted benefits to get some weekly pay in the light of the economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jobless Illinoisans have taken their complaints to social media.
“I did everything I was told to do,” said Koy Cook, a Charleston barber who was been laid off amid the pandemic. “I applied and was denied and I waited for May 11. Then the system told me I wasn’t eligible for PUA because I still had funds available. Which they have already denied me. Now they are saying that I have to file an appeal and wait for that to go through before I can apply for PUA. Which I could have done weeks ago if they had just told me. We were given no guidance. I have not been able to work since mid-March with zero income. It’s a nightmare and it’s impossible to speak to anyone about it.”