The last of the IDES for me…for now

My final check came from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, along with a notice that future payments would arrive via direct deposit or on a plastic debit-sort of card.

Since I have a job now, I won’t get to brave that path. But I’d love to hear from anyone whose experience isn’t all rosy.

My time filing for unemployment went well. Even after I missed my call-in day, mixed up from starting work, I was able to file by phone and get paid. No long lines, no embarrassing questions, no accusations. It could have been so much worse. $369 a week wasn’t enough to live on for long, yet it also disqualified me for food stamps and other social programs, but I hardly starved and it was meager enough to make me really hustle this summer to get reemployed.

And I’ve been cashing checks like a sucker…

Debit cards for the unemployed

Lose your job in Illinois and you gain a debit card. Beginning Aug. 1, the state began issuing Visa debit cards to people who qualify for unemployment insurance payments.

The check is no longer in the mail, but electronically deposited directly into your debit card account.

Folks who don’t want the card can opt for direct deposit in their checking or savings accounts.

While the program is currently aimed at the newly unemployed, by Nov. 1 of this year Illinois plans to eliminate checks completely as it transitions to a paperless system.

I was tipped to this story by a former colleague who is now unemployed.

Once he wrote the news, now he’s a news source.

Odd how things work out.

But my source, we’ll call him George, still knows a good story when he sees one.

“You don’t have to go down to the unemployment office any more, either” he said.

“I found out you can file for unemployment on your computer.”

No more standing in line for hours only to be told by some sour-faced bureaucrat that you’ve been standing in the wrong line.

Read the rest of Phil Kadner’s column here. Please do – he’s my colleague now.

I’m reporting again for a paycheck — not the kind issued by IDES. Check out my stuff or set a Google Alert for “By Lauren FitzPatrick.” Please. More to come — I’m trying to wrap up day 1 before 9 p.m. That doesn’t mean the end of Termination Date, though. I know I’m one of the lucky ones, and who knows how long this streak will even last?

Hey, I helped!

My unemployment is record breaking! I’m part of Illinois’ highest unemployment rate since 1993. And one of 6,100 payroll jobs that disappeared in June, compared with May, according to this release from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Those of you who know me certainly understand how I always want to Do My Very Best while Making a Difference. So glad I could help push the state over the top in June.

CHICAGO –Total payroll jobs in Illinois decreased -6,100 from May to June, according to data released by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). Thus far this year, the net job gain in Illinois stands at +7,400 as compared to -438,000 jobs being eliminated at the national level. In June, the Professional and Business Services sector in Illinois added +6,600 workers with one-third of these new jobs being created in the higher paying professional services industries. The Leisure/Hospitality sector gained +3,400 new jobs over the month. The Financial Activities sector reported a drop of -2,900 workers in June. Manufacturing lost -2,200 jobs and the Trade and Transportation sector posted a drop of -1,700 workers.

Illinois continues to lead all Midwestern states in job growth since January 2004 with 191,500 new jobs. The seasonally adjusted Illinois unemployment rate for June was 6.8%, climbing 0.4 points from May. The number of unemployed increased for the second month in a row, rising by +26,900 to 463,900 unemployed individuals, and reaching its highest level since June 1993.

 
No word about the journalism rate of unemployment, and how it is or is not baking records. We’re just not a category IDES measures at this time.

Tuesday’s my day

“Your bi-weekly call day is Tuesday,” the Illinois Department of Employment Security wrote me in this letter that arrived today. I ripped the thing open so fast it, well, ripped, hence the tape on the envelope.

Ripped envelope in haste to get at News

Called today to get certified for the IDES benefits better known as “unemployment,” or better still, as “the dole”.

I don’t understand why it has taken about a month to get certified. Benefits to start as of July 20, when my termination date, as you all know and as IDES all knows, was June 23.

Letter carefully redacted by me. Last thing I need now is to get my identity stolen.

I now have a biweekly date with the TeleServe certification system for up to the next 26 weeks.

Now on to see how long it takes to set up direct deposit.

Can’t trust that Chicago mail.