Michigan Chamber of Commerce upset over jobless claims logjam
by The Associated Press
Wednesday January 21, 2009, 10:15 AM

LANSING — A Michigan business group on Tuesday called for the state Legislature to investigate because state phone lines have been overwhelmed by people filing for unemployment benefits.

State officials, who have reassigned staff and added server capacity in hopes of keeping up with increased demand, said they are taking more steps to address the problem.

Those steps include hiring more workers to answer phones and process claims, compressing training schedules and letting people re-certify their jobless status on the Internet instead of through a phone system. The moves will be officially announced Wednesday.

Fifty new employees have been hired since July, said Susan Corbin, deputy director and chief of staff at the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth. Another 150 will be hired, she said.

But the Michigan Chamber of Commerce said Michigan’s unemployment insurance agency and Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office should have anticipated the problem but instead focused on less pressing issues such as renaming the labor department. The unemployment system is financed through employer payroll taxes.

Callers to a phone line handling applications for jobless benefits sometimes can’t get through. The Internet system for jobless claims is operational but at times has been slowed by heavy volume.

Original Source: Mlive

It seems to me that the only place hiring at this point is the Michigan Unemployment Agency themselves. Ironic isn’t it? This is extremely concerning to see that so many people in Michigan are unemployed. It’s almost like a ticking bomb, just waiting for the right second to explode. Think about what will happen if all these unemployed people still can’t find work after their benefits run out. It won’t be good because this is the last of any money many individuals will be getting for some time. The only other option is going to be to leave Michigan and try to find work elsewhere. If this happens in the masses, there will be a sudden collapse of our economy and depression may set in–and I don’t mean the kind that you can fix with a pill–. Let’s hope that they can get the phone lines unjammed for those relying on their UIA benefits. More importantly though, lets hope that these unemployed individuals can find work again.

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