Unemployment claims stay flat at 1.3M
Illinois rate drops, but state continues to see rise in filings for expanded benefits for gig workers
An Uber driver protests for better pay and working conditions in the pandemic in San Francisco earlier this year. Claims for expanded unemployment benefits for gig workers continue to rise in Illinois. (Shutterstock)
By Ted Cox
The number of new claims for unemployment benefits remained flat last week at 1.3 million, still almost twice the pre-COVID-19 record, four months after filings first spiked in the pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly unemployment report released Thursday found that another 1.3 million idled workers filed for benefits last week, down just 10,000 from the week before. It was the lowest weekly addition to unemployment rolls since 3.3 million filed in mid-March as the coronavirus economic collapse took hold, but it remained almost double the previous record of 695,00 set during the 1982 recession. In between, the new one-week record of 6.9 million new filings was set the last full week of March.
New claims in Illinois saw a similar slight decline, down to 37,626 from 39,015 the week before, a reduction of 1,389. But state claims filed for expanded federal benefits for so-called gig workers, independent contractors, and freelancers under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program rose for the third straight week, to 57,157, up from 42,785 the week before. One-week filings for PUA benefits were just above 10,000 statewide a month ago.
The Labor Department reported: “The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 11.9 percent for the week ending July 4, a decrease of 0.3 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.2 from 12.4 to 12.2 percent.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the June unemployment rate at 11.1 percent. Working from those figures, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday that the state rate for June dropped to 14.6 percent, down from a revised figure of 15.3 percent for May. IDES explained the improvement by pointing out that “nonfarm payrolls added more than 142,800 jobs in June, a record monthly increase.”
Industries that saw immediate gains from the coronavirus recovery included leisure and hospitality (more than 58,700 jobs), trade, transportation, and utilities (40,800), and education and health services (24,600). But other sectors continued to suffer, led by cuts in public government jobs (down 19,000), financial activities (1,700), and mining (800).
“Safely and deliberately reopening our economy amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remains a top priority for the administration,” said Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes in a statement. “Gov. Pritzker’s recently announced mitigation plan to prevent a resurgence of cases in Illinois not only aims to keep residents safe and healthy, but to also ensure our economy can continue on its path to recovery.”
"Today's report shows that while Illinois has started to see positive indicators of a turnaround in unemployment and a return in jobs, we still have more work to do," said Michael Negron, acting director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. “To get our economy back on track, the Pritzker administration is redoubling our commitment to programs that will help residents, small businesses, and communities hit hardest by the economic burdens of COVID-19. While the duration of the crisis cannot be known, the state importantly continues to prioritize public health and mitigation of the virus that will help enable a faster economic recovery, and help more Illinoisans return to work.”
According to the Labor Department, “The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending June 27 was 32,003,330, a decrease of 433,005 from the previous week.” But that compared with 1.6 million total on unemployment rolls nationally a year ago. In Illinois, unemployment was up 10.6 percentage points year to year from 4 percent last year, with the state economy down almost 600,000 jobs “across all major industries,” according to IDES, led by leisure and hospitality (221,800 jobs), professional and business services (88,100), and government (69,000).