Unemployment is hitting record levels in Illinois with weeks to go until the COVID-19 stay-at-home order expires. Federal action made self-employed workers eligible, but Illinois could be months away from handling their claims.
“Anything that’s delayed at this point [taxes or other business expenses] I think would be beneficial. Our property taxes are not inexpensive. So, if that’s money we can keep in our accounts to pay to vendors or pay the staff, every dollar would help."
The federal government authorized a financial aid program for small businesses that have closed their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but state and local government also offer assistance.
“In our country we should not have children who don’t have three meals a day. And we have a lot of that. We just picked up a family of seven that hasn’t eaten for two or three days."
Business sectors directly affected by the coronavirus and mitigation employ 1.5 million Illinoisans. The longer the shutdown, the more industries and jobs face cuts.
“I really like the story of how we started this business. “My husband, Ben, and I started out 12 years ago. At the time, I really wasn’t expecting that we’d become full-time landlords. For me, it was a way for us to buy a house with the space we needed, plus cash flow. I come...
A quarter of Illinois’ workers are staring down the economic impacts of a global pandemic.
Our team wanted to give you a look at the harsh reality of life in downtown Chicago during the COVID-19 crisis.
“I had just built up a savings account for the first time. Now I’m fighting to keep everything."
“Before the health crisis, we were growing at such a rapid pace and scale that we were looking to expand either our space or to a second location this year. Now with the coronavirus, everything has come to a screeching halt."
"Isn’t it odd that people like us have to live within our means but government doesn’t? It makes no sense."
The last thing Illinois needs is more bad news for the sake of it. But ignoring this reality threatens to make this crisis worse.
"In a lot of sales, you have a winner and a loser sometimes. And with coffee for me, there was two winners: a coffee and a smile for a smile and two dollars."
New data show Illinois lost private sector jobs amid a national economic expansion for the first year on record in 2019, a sign of the state’s deep structural problems in the run-up to the current market downturn.