ILLINOIS
Percent Unemployed Getting Benefits: 26% (24th lowest)
Percent Average Weekly Wage Covered: 32.3% (17th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.9% (third highest)
Black Unemployment rate (2013): 17%
Illinois’ April unemployment rate of 7.9% was among the highest in the nation, likely due in part to tepid job creation. Nearly three-quarters of the states’ unemployed didn’t receive benefits, less than in about half of all states. Illinois’ underemployment rate, was 15.6%. This was higher than in all but four other states.