30,000 CT jobless claims with no end in sight

Between Friday and the end of the day Tuesday, the state received 30,000 firsttime claims for unemployment from Connecticut residents — more than ten times the number that would normally come in over that same period.

A typical week sees 3,000 claims in times of low unemployment — which Connecticut was enjoying until the coronavirus crisis hit.

No one at the state Department of Labor can say whether the flood will continue, at what rate and for how long. Monday brought 10,000 new claims, said Daryle Dudzinski, deputy commissioner at the department.

And the tally Tuesday as of 6 p.m. was 10,198 — with a backlog of 16,800 yet to be processed as the department added people to the task.

These are clearly recession-type numbers. The question is whether the numbers will come in as a sudden bunch and then slow, or continue, as would happen in a more typical recession.

“It’s going to be very difficult for us to project,” Dudzinski said. “This is a oncein-a-lifetime experience.”

The department faces challenges on two fronts — processing all the requests and paying for them.

The state’s online system was over capacity with too many claims at once from 7 p.m. until midnight Monday, then again at 2 p.m. Tuesday for about 9 minutes. The department posted a notice on its website citing technical problems with the initial claims filing system.

“We are working urgently with our vendor to fix the problem as soon as possible. Your claim data has been saved...We appreciate your patience.”

About 30 employees are assigned to process the requests and they were able to process 4,412 new claims on Monday, Dudzinski said. “Each day we’re going to be shifting people into claim processing wherever possible,” he said.

It’s easy to see that the staff could fall behind if the pace continues. “At this rate, we will be overwhelmed,”

Dudzinski said. The definition of that: “Our goal is always to process every single new claim that is submitted by our customers within three days.”

The department has waived a requirement that filers actively look for work, if they are expecting to return to their jobs after furloughs. To that end, employers can make the processing go a lot smoother by stating a specific return date on their unemployment filings to the state.

Even if the return date is a guess, which employers later update, the claims will run a lot more smoothly, Dudzinski said.

Employers with questions should call 860-263-6705. That number is not for use by people filing. They should go to www.filectui.com.

People seeking claims should not go to the American Job Centers around the state. Those offices are still open but are letting in only a few people at a time.

The DOL has posted answers to frequently asked questions here.

The broader issue is whether the state’s unemployment system can handle the cost. The fund stands between $600 million and $700 million — well short of the $1.4 billion level the federal government has set for the state to be able to sustain a spike.

About $400 million is due from employers at the end of April but if the state needs an infusion, it would come from a loan from the federal government — which state employers, not taxpayers, would be responsible for paying back. The last loan from the recession ten years ago was not paid back until 2016.

Benefits last 26 weeks. That has not been extended by the federal government as it often is in recessions.

With unemployment at 3.7 percent in January, the latest month reported, about 41,000 Connecticut residents have been receiving benefits per week. at 10 percent unemployment, the figure in a severe recession, that number would be about 170,000.

Dudzinski estimated the current spike could reach 70,000 to 80,000 people receiving weekly payments within four weeks, as many people filing may be ruled ineligible and many who would not otherwise be eligible will receive benefits.