August 13, 2020 – With more than one in seven Illinois residents still out of work due to the COVID-19 crisis and associated state lockdowns, the Illinois Policy Institute found Governor Pritzker could have quelled pandemic-related job losses by implementing an unemployment program that most states already have in place. New Institute research has shown that Pritzker could have saved nearly 32,000 jobs if he had implemented a short-time compensation program which would have allowed employees to receive a percentage of unemployment benefits as well as work reduced hours while keeping their jobs.
Illinois is the largest state that does not have a short-time compensation or work share program. Other states, such as Texas, Florida and New York used similar programs to assist employers to avoid full lay-offs as well as increase the chances of residents returning to jobs following the pandemic. Since 2014, Illinois has had the ability to implement a work share program.
Since COVID-19 began impacting Illinois’ economy, there have been 1.58 million total requests for unemployment benefits.
