Chicago Sun Times: State Unemployment Extended as Claims Remain Historically High

Protesters ask Senators to support the continuation of unemployment benefits on July 16, 2020 in Miami Springs, Florida. File photo. Getty

The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Thursday that 20 weeks of state extended benefits are available to those who exhaust the allotted 26 weeks of regular state unemployment and the additional 13 weeks of federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits.

IDES encouraged those with unemployment questions to visit IDES.Illinois.gov first before calling the unemployment hotlines, which continue to receive a high volume of calls.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that there were 24,712 first time unemployment claims filed in Illinois during the week ending Aug. 1, a decrease of more than 8,500 from the previous week.

The number of continued unemployment claims in the state remained historically high at 629,814 despite a decrease of nearly 19,000 from the previous week.

Read the full report here.