HARRISBURG, Pa. — Unemployment numbers out of Harrisburg show that since mid-March, 1.7 million Pennsylvanians have filed unemployment compensation claims with the state Department of Labor and Industry.
With so many people trying to file claims, Pennsylvania's Labor Secretary acknowledged that many of them are getting busy signals every time they dial their phone.
“As you know, we are receiving highly call volumes, and many people struggle to reach call centers,” said Secretary Jerry Oleksiak.
“There were days that I did spend from eight o'clock in the morning until four o'clock in the afternoon, just pressing redial,” said Pam Blusius from Elysburg.
She’s among those who have been calling daily with no luck.
Her employment at a pool material manufacturing plant was interrupted when the governor ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to close.
Blusius still has not received an unemployment payment.
She was patient with the system at first, but now?
“So, I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, two weeks, okay, three weeks, I understand,” said Blusius. “But when it gets to be four, five, and the end of this week is six weeks.”
The Labor Department says it's in the process of increasing staff to field more phone calls but also people filing claims to help ease the process along.
There is an option to call the virtual assistant at a separate number.
But mostly the Labor Department says visiting its website could likely answer a number of questions and help to free up phone lines.
“This will allow our staff to focus on people who do not have internet access, who require translation services or have some specific issues with their claims,” said Oleksiak.
As for Blusius, she's been in contact with a state senator's office, which told her that it could take another two weeks to process her claim.
You can find the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s website here.