The Illinois Department of Employment Security has been busy since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
IDES says it has now processed over one million initial unemployment claims from March 1 through May 2.
Which is 12 times the number of claims processed over the same period last year.
Initial claims have slightly declined over the last two weeks, but IDES believes they may see an increase when the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program becomes available on Monday, May 11.