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States' Web Sites and Phone Lines Can't Handle Unemployment Claims

by Peter Mychalcewycz on January 12, 2009 at 02:36 PM

The struggling economy is making life difficult for many Americans, and now a lack of updated technology is making it worse for the jobless. How's that, you ask? Because the soaring amount of unemployment claims across the country has crashed e-mail sites and turned phone lines into virtual traffic jams, making it harder for people to get aid.

States like New York and California have had their call centers and Web sites overrun with claims. The agencies are saying they lack the infrastructure to cope with such a high demand and that they need at least $546 million more than the government has given them to update their system. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose from 6.8-percent in November to 7.2-percent in December, and there are 11 million people who are now jobless. The one positive note to this problem is that some states have been forced to hire workers to process the claims.

Good luck, America. Stay strong. [From: USA Today]

Tags: economic crisis, EconomicCrisis, top, unemployment, web

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