Workers, Illinois Lawmakers Take Issue With Continued Problems With Unemployment Computer System
Since day one, we have been pushing for answers about the State of Illinois' overwhelmed computer system.
Watch CBS News
Since day one, we have been pushing for answers about the State of Illinois' overwhelmed computer system.
"So many families are hurting at a scale that this country hasn't seen ever in our lifetime, and our state unemployment filing systems – which were built a decade ago for a much lower number of claims – simply haven't kept pace," Pritzker said Monday at his daily COVID-19 briefing.
Millions of Americans and thousands of Chicagoans are out of work, so where do they turn now?
More than 200,000 people filed first-time unemployment claims in Illinois this week, breaking the record set last week. All those claims in the system also complicates what matters for people already approved.
"Almost no state has this available to them because you have to build a system. It's not something you add on to existing systems."
The streets outside Skills for Chicagoland's future are about as empty as the downtown office itself, but don't let the empty chairs fool you.
For many unemployed workers across the state, help is not coming easy. CBS 2 has been getting email from viewers who say they have been spending hours online or on the phone with no results.
CBS 2 continues to track issues with the state's unemployment system, which is still overwhelmed by requests amid the coronavirus crash.
Some businesses are having massive layoffs and may never reopen as the statewide stay-at-home order keeps non-essential businesses closed.
Millions of small businesses are expected to apply for these desperately needed rescue loans from the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which was put in place to help them retain workers and pay bills during the coronavirus pandemic.
Small businesses struggling through the lockdown can start getting help from the federal government Friday.
With a glitching system and calls that are never answered getting in the way for those trying to file for unemployment in Illinois, one woman said she has been stuck waiting not for days, but for weeks.
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov on Thursday examined the growing frustration from some people trying to get help amid surging unemployment.
Just last month, the U.S. Department of Labor warned that Illinois was one of a handful of states that would not be able to handle a surge of unemployment claims on its own.
There were 178,133 unemployment claims filed during the week of March 23 in the state of Illinois.
"The key thing here is no one should lose their home whether it's a small time owner-occupied property, we don't want that property owner to lose their home. But we don't want the tenants to lose their homes either."
"We've asked people to stagger their application processes, their calls, as well as their online applications, because frankly the systems weren't built, nor was the staffing built to withstand this kind of onslaught," Gov. JB Pritzker said.
In the first three weeks of March alone, there have been over 130,000 unemployment benefit claims in Illinois - with so many people out of work and needing money the state is having trouble keeping up.
Illinois small businesses are adapting to delivery and online sales just to stay alive, but will customers even find them? Students at the University of Chicago have rushed to the challenge.
The math is staggering – according to the U.S. Department of Labor, there were 114,663 unemployment claims in Illinois alone last week amid the coronavirus crisis.
"I think most people understand that its pretty congested right now. So I'm being patient."
There were 114,663 unemployment claims in Illinois for the week that ended March 21, up more than 10 times for the week prior, when there were 10,870 jobless claims in the state.
Roughly 3.3 million people filed a claim for jobless aid in the week ending March 21, a nearly fivefold increase over the previous record in 1982.
Chicago Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) wants to hear from anyone who has strong feelings about food delivery robots.
Some polls opened up for early voting on Thursday, with less than six weeks to go until primary day in Illinois.
President Trump said he is directing all federal law enforcement to be at the "complete disposal" of Savannah Guthrie's family as the search continues for her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
A man was critically injured in a shooting that led to a crash in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Wednesday night.
Minute Maid's parent company, Coca-Cola, says it's ending production of its frozen juice concentrates, including orange juice.
Chicago Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) wants to hear from anyone who has strong feelings about food delivery robots.
Some polls opened up for early voting on Thursday, with less than six weeks to go until primary day in Illinois.
President Trump said he is directing all federal law enforcement to be at the "complete disposal" of Savannah Guthrie's family as the search continues for her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
President Trump told NBC News the call to remove 700 immigration officers from Minneapolis came from him.
With U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky retiring at the end of her term, voters in Illinois' 9th Congressional District face a crowded field of candidates to fill the seat with a new representative for the first time since 1998.
This week marks Identity Theft Awareness Week, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza emphasized some safety tips Monday for avoiding and dealing with identity theft.
A controversial data center in Naperville, Illinois, could be the cause to pack a city council meeting there on Tuesday night.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital announced this week that it is planning to open a new pediatric hospital in the west Chicago suburb of Downers Grove.
It has been nearly six years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the many questions doctors are still working to answer concerns the long-term effects.
Leaders from Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository denounced changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a grant from The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation for a new cancer center.
Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital said Tuesday that it is no longer initiating gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
January may be the coldest time of the year, but Chicago is already looking forward to summer farmers' markets.
A development proposal issued this month calls for the replacement of a building housing a Giordiano's pizzeria in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with a new mixed-use building with 28 residential units.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Does the Chicago Bears' dramatic improvement this season, culminating in their first playoff run in five years, change the discussion about where they will build a new stadium?
The members of Ratboys were teenagers when they met by chance, and now in their 30s, the Chicago band formed by two college friends almost two decades ago appears to be on the brink of something big.
Chuck Negron, a founding member of Three Dog Night whose lead vocals powered a string of hits for one of the top rock acts of the late 1960s and early '70s has died. He was 83.
Bad Bunny used his Grammy acceptance speech on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
The 2026 Grammy Awards recognized the best of the best in music from last year, with big wins for Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny. Here's the full list of winners and nominees.
Complete closure of the performing arts center in Washington, D.C., will start on July 4, Mr. Trump said. It's not yet clear how extensive the changes to the building might be.
Chicago Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) wants to hear from anyone who has strong feelings about food delivery robots.
A man was critically injured in a shooting that led to a crash in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Wednesday night.
Meteorologist Laura Bannon has the extended forecast.
A woman was killed, and a man was wounded when they were shot Wednesday afternoon while in a car with a baby in the back seat in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood
The wishlist for what Galewood residents want to see the old Mars Wrigley factory is long, but there's one idea they don't want to see become reality — housing.
A man was critically injured in a shooting that led to a crash in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Wednesday night.
The Illinois primary for the 2026 midterm election will be held on March 17, 2026. The general midterm will be held on Nov. 3, 2026. Here's what you need to know to make sure you're ready to vote in Illinois.
A woman was killed and a man was wounded when they were shot while in a car with a baby in the back seat in Auburn Gresham, just steps from St. Sabina Parish.
Chicago Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) wants to hear from anyone who has strong feelings about food delivery robots.
Some polls opened up for early voting on Thursday, with less than six weeks to go until primary day in Illinois.
Cynthia Eason recounted the moment Chicago police officers raided her family's home in 2018.
Water bills could be going up in several Chicago suburbs and other parts of Illinois, as Illinois American Water seeks a rate increase to fund infrastructure improvements.
The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said that Chicago police officers pointed guns at them during the botched raid.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have allowed him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.
John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, the busiest trauma center in Illinois, is sounding an alarm, as doctors brace for an influx of patients because of federal funding cuts under the Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
Six players made 3s for Illinois, which shot 17 of 38 from behind the arc and had just two turnovers.
Spencer Knight made 16 saves for the Blackhawks, who have dropped five of six.
The Chicago Bulls are trading Coby White to the Charlotte Hornets, reports said Wednesday.
Chicago cut Milwaukee's lead to 90-84 late in the third quarter, but couldn't get any closer.
The Chicago Bulls are sending center Nikola Vučević to the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons, and the teams will also swap second-round draft picks as part of the deal.
A woman was killed and a man was wounded when they were shot Wednesday afternoon while in a car with a baby in the back seat in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood, just steps from St. Sabina Parish.
A man who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges in Illinois is facing additional charges in the San Francisco Bay Area in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a child, police said.
Ryan Routh, the man convicted in a 2024 assassination attempt of President Trump at his Florida golf course, has been sentenced to life in prison.
The shooters remained at large Wednesday in two attacks that happened less than a mile apart on Chicago's Near West Side a day earlier.
The disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, is being investigated as a crime.
