Over 100,000 People File Unemployment Claims In Illinois For Week Of April 13, Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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CHICAGO (CBS)-- The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 102,736 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 13 in Illinois, according to the department's weekly claims report released Thursday.

The Illinois Department Of Employment Security updated those numbers later Thursday to 102,936 new claims filed last week.

For comparison, during the same timeframe last year, there were 8,141 new claims filed. That's a 1,164% increase.

In the last seven weeks, more than 750,000 people have filed new unemployment claims in Illinois. That's more than what was filed last year in total. Illinois is second behind Michigan, which has had nearly 1.2 million new claims. Indiana is behind Ilinois at over 520,000 claims.

There were 4,427,000 new claims filed across the country last week, a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week. The unemployment claims over over the past several weeks are by far the highest in recent history.

The IDES reported 141,160 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 6.

CBS 2 has extensively reported about how unemployment has surged in Illinois and neighboring states during the coronavirus pandemic.