Hiring is happening at the unemployment office. Before the surge in applications of the past few weeks, layoffs trickled in across the State of Wisconsin, which allowed the Department of Workforce Development to get by with only 57 employees dedicated to unemployment insurance claims. This past Monday, traditionally the busiest day of the week, over 24,000 applications flooded in. Emily Savard, unemployment insurance communication liaison, says resources are being shifted from other departments to help, and hiring is expected soon.
Applications are filed online, with most entered correctly and processed by the state’s computer system without a human involved. Savard says the wait times have come when Workforce Development staff are needed to assist claimants. The online portal had a hiccup once in the past week, bogging down when 30,000 users attempted to access the site at one time.
*Photo of Sturgeon Bay Job Center.
