Illinois began paying out on Monday the extra $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits contained in the latest pandemic relief legislation.
The federal supplement runs for 11 weeks, through March 13. The payments issued this week are for the first benefit week, ending Jan. 2, the Illinois Department of Employment Security announced via Twitter.
Nearly 450,000 Illinoisans were set to lose benefits when multiple federal unemployment programs tied to the coronavirus relief package passed in the spring expired Dec. 26, according to the state.
There were concerns that unemployed Americans would lose out on a week’s worth of benefits because President Donald Trump delayed signing the latest $900 billion relief package until the day after federal programs expired.
Illinois begins paying out extra $300 per week in federal unemployment aid chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Who s eligible
Workers currently receiving at least $1 in state unemployment benefits, who earned at least $5,000 in self-employment income in 2019,
will be eligible for the extra $100 per week effective Dec. 27, 2020 through March 14, 2021. People who start a new claim this year will have to prove earnings of at least $5,000 in self-employment income from 2020.
The extra $100 supplement will be on top of the $300 weekly federal enhancement available to most aid recipients that states are beginning to pay out this week. People on long-term jobless aid through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or their state s Extended Benefits are also eligible for the extra $100 MEUC pay.
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During the week of December 20-26, there were 19,192 initial regular unemployment claims (up 9.1 percent from the prior week) and 497,370 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (up 8.4 percent from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD). Initial regular claims applications remain at elevated levels and are…