New unemployment filings at COVID low

But 787K new claims well above pre-COVID record, as filings remain stubbornly high in Illinois

New claims for unemployment have risen in Illinois, led by professional and business services. (Shutterstock)

By Ted Cox

New claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to their lowest level since COVID-19 gripped the economy in March, but remained well above the previous record in data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Labor Department’s weekly unemployment report found that 787,000 newly idled workers filed for benefits nationally last week, the lowest figure since 3.3 million filed in mid-March. It also resumed a decline after new filings had remained stubbornly in the 800,000s for weeks.

But that remained above the previous one-week record of 695,000 set in the 1982 recession, and in between a record 6.9 million filed the last full week of March.

New filings in Illinois remained at 47,000 for last week, after they had dropped into the 20,000s in September. New filings for expanded federal benefits for independent contractors, freelancers, and so-called gig workers remained in the 8,000 range for the second week in a row, also up from September figures.

Last week, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported that the state unemployment rate stood at 10.2 percent for September, down from 11 percent in August, but still above the national rate of 7.9 percent. IDES reported that nonfarm payrolls lost 12,000 jobs, with the heaviest losses in professional and business services, government, and educational and health services. Sectors seeing job growth were led by leisure and hospitality and trade, transportation, and utilities.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, 23.2 million workers remained on some form of unemployment insurance, but that was down 1 million from the previous week. Even so, a year ago just 1.4 million workers were out of work nationally.