State: Jobless claims overwhelm staff

The numbers have, simply put, been something the state Department of Labor and Industry isn’t equipped to handle.

The department’s handling of the tidal wave of unemployment claims over the past 10 months, created by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the economic havoc it has wreaked, has faced quite a bit of scrutiny.

State legislators and the public have been searching for answers, for reasons why the unemployment system has faltered and left many waiting months for payments they desperately need.

They want to know why it has been next to impossible to get in touch with anyone offering help, why callers are left on hold for hours and emails have taken weeks upon weeks to receive responses.

Testifying at an informal state House Labor and Industry Committee hearing held to provide an update of the unemployment system, acting Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer

Berrier said it came down to the numbers.

It’s a message department leaders have been sharing since the start of the pandemic.

The department has helped more than 2 million Pennsylvanians since March, she said, with about $33 billion in assistance. And while the demand peaked in April, she said, it still remains high.

Just last week, the department saw 44,000 new regular claims and about 56,000 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims, Berrier said. That’s on top of 180,000 ongoing claims.

The result is that there are still about 2% of claimants, or just under 45,000, whose claims were still pending as of Jan. 1.

Berrier admitted the number of people still in limbo needs to improve.

“We know this statistic is not perfect,” she said.

Despite the struggles, Berrier, who began as acting secretary in early December, said she has been impressed with the department’s staff, who have worked around the clock under difficult circumstances.

“Your work helps families put food on their tables and keep a roof over their heads,” she said.

Berrier said the biggest issue for the department has been that the staff just isn’t large enough to handle all the work it has faced.

“The demand for unemployment claims services have far outpaced unemployment claims staffing,” she said.

A study the department recently did showed that during the April peak it needed 2,800 seasoned, experience intake staff to handle the volume of claims, Berrier said. Even in the slower months of the pandemic, the department needed 2,000 intake staff.

Today, after months of hiring and training new employees, the department has just over 500 intake staff.

And when it comes to examiners whose job it is to make eligibility determinations, a job Berrier said is difficult and stressful, the department now has 258 staffers handling about 94,000 active cases.

The department has also been charged with handling new federal unemployment programs, which just adds to the work for a staff stretched thin, she said.

“The system is not set up to handle something like this,” Berrier said.

But Berrier said she didn’t attend Wednesday’s hearing to make excuses. And she said understands why so many are frustrated and upset with the system, assuring the committee that she is upset, too.

“We take each claim personally,” she said. “We will not rest until every person eligible for benefits is served.”

Members of the committee said that throughout the pandemic calls from constituents about unemployment have been flooding in. Today, several said, those calls are only rivaled by ones about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rep. Sara Innamorato, a Democrat from Allegheny County, said her office has had 1,800 calls and 200 emails since March about unemployment.

Innamorato believes the state has “broken our social contract” with claimants who have had to wait months to receive the benefits they’re owed.

Berrier said the department has been making strides in improving how the unemployment system operates. It has continued to hire new staff members, she said, although a goal to increase the number of examiners by 50 is proving a challenge.

“Frankly, I’m going to be honest, people don’t want these jobs because of how hard they are,” she said.

Along with continuing attempts to increase staffing, the department has had some other successes as well. That’s something committee Chairman Jim Cox, a Spring Township Republican, noted.

“It’s not all doom and gloom,” he said. “We have seen some positive things come out of this.”

Those positive things include a shift to holding unemployment claim hearings by phone instead of in-person that has led to the average daily number of hearings jumping to 315 from 240.

There’s also a chatbot — introduced to help answer claimants’ questions — that has answered more than 2 million calls, Berrier said, and a new text notification system that will provide claimants with updates on their claims should be rolled out soon.

And, Berrier said, the department this week was able to send out important tax documents to people who received unemployment benefits in 2020.

When asked what the Legislature can do to further aide the department, Berrier had a few ideas.

She said eliminating the waiting week for claimants — the seven days from the time they become unemployed until they can claim benefits — would speed up the process and get people their money quicker.

She also said she favors eliminating credit weeks — any week where a claimant earned at least $160 — saying they’re problematic because they tend to be confusing for employers. Claimants must have at least 18 credit weeks in their base year — the year prior to a claim that is used for determining unemployment eligibility — to receive benefits.

Bills have been introduced in the House to address both those issues.