IDES received more applications for unemployment benefits in the first three weeks of Covid-19 than in all of 2019 or 2018. While the volume of the displacement certainly challenged the Agency’s processing of unemployment claims, those of us in the LMI Division understood the imperative to articulate timely and relevant information on local labor market impacts. To this point, our response has been framed by three initiatives, each of which will be discussed in this presentation. First, IDES revised the content of its monthly in-demand jobs report to include only the most recent four weeks of online job ads posted by Illinois employers. The reports show top job ads by employers and occupations in each economic development region. Second, IDES completed its most recent 10-year demand projections (2018-2028) in July 2020. In partnership with DCEO, IDES is working to update the projections models to include Covid-19 impacts and produce industry and occupational employment projections for the state, economic development regions, and workforce innovation areas. Third, IDES is developing an “unemployment to reemployment” portal for LWIA’s using its administrative unemployment claims to display Covid-19 impacts on local labor markets. IDES is working in partnership with DCEO to augment this pipeline linking unemployed claimants to enrollment and completion of local WIOA training programs.

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