Get Answers: Unemployment hotline busy signal

Posted at: 10/14/2009 7:04 PM | Updated at: 10/15/2009 7:54 AM
By: Stuart Dyson, Eyewitness News 4; Matthew Kappus, KOB.com

Questions and complaints about the state's unemployment hotline are pouring into the KOB newsroom. We went to Workforce Solutions to ask them what people are wondering: Why is it so hard to get though on the agency's job assistance hotline?

Connie from Albuquerque wrote to us: "Why, day after day, week after week, is it still impossible to get through on the Workforce Solutions 841-4000 line? I was told I need to call and have been trying for two weeks all day long."

Workforce Solutions, which helps New Mexicans trying to file for unemployment benefits, says high call volume is blocking their lines.

"You just cannot get through to their call center and if you do, you're on hold for two hours and then you get cut off. It's a nightmare," said one unemployed caller.

Workforce Solutions has a website. But you can't use it if you are one of the close to 4,000 New Mexicans now eligible for extended benefits. Those people must file by phone, which contributes to the overload.

"Forty thousand payments each week - that's 40,000 people that are seeking services from us, essentially. At this time last year, we were serving 12,000 people," said Workforce Solutions employee Carrie Moritomos.

Workforce Solutions got a large federal grant of $41 million to overhaul the whole system. They started with a new mainframe computer, but a lot of other equipment isn't set up yet.

"We do ask for people's patience and understanding," Moritomos said. "They're not going to be penalized for their inability to get through."

But you won't get your employment check if you don't apply for it. To visit the Workforce Solutions website, click here.

If you have a question and can't get answers, KOB wants to  help. Visit this page to ask a question.

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