IDES offices closed Monday to observe Columbus Day

Customers should certify; services available on Internet

[October 04, 2012]  CHICAGO -- Offices of the Illinois Department of Employment Security will be closed on Monday in observance of Columbus Day. All services will be available on the IDES website. Claimants scheduled to certify for benefits should do so and are encouraged to use the Internet. TeleServe will be available.

Regular office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. will resume Tuesday.

Initially a day to remember when the explorer Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, the holiday has since evolved into celebrating Italian-American heritage. The first celebration occurred in New York in 1792. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation honoring the 400th anniversary of the initial landing. In 1905, Colorado was the first state to make it an official holiday. In 1937, Congress designated Oct. 12 as the holiday and in 1971 declared that the holiday be celebrated the second Monday in October. Illinois created the Columbus Day holiday in 1963.

Although IDES offices will be closed, services will be available at www.ides.illinois.gov. People still will be able to file for first-time unemployment benefits; certify for benefits, which is necessary to receive payment; and switch the method of payment to direct deposit. The IDES will process customer certifications on Monday. Because Monday is a federal banking holiday, the availability of some benefit payments might be delayed. The IDES does not determine federal banking holidays.

Illinois has added 151,200 private-sector jobs since January 2010, when job growth returned to Illinois following nearly two years of consecutive monthly declines. Leading growth sectors are professional and business services, up 75,000; manufacturing, up 44,900; and educational and health services, up 37,700. Government has lost the most jobs since January 2010, decreasing by 34,300.

There are 120,000 help-wanted ads on Illinoisjoblink.com, the IDES employment website that links job seekers with employers. This no-cost career resource allows individuals to create multiple resumes that emphasize different talents and allows businesses to search for specific skills. The keyword-matching technology increases the likelihood of a successful new hire. Illinois JobLink emphasizes Illinois jobs, scrapes other commercial job boards and compares favorably with private efforts that cost hundreds of dollars for a single advertisement.

Business leaders can access the department's no-cost human resources recruitment services by calling 877-342-7533.

[Text from Illinois Department of Employment Security file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]