North Caroline Unemployment System Crashes from High Claims

by sammielee24 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  sammielee24

  RALEIGH, N.C. — Unemployment is up so much in North Carolina that the state's Internet site for benefits crashed twice this week under a rush of claims.

  Once the system was back up, the state set one-day records both for the amount of unemployment benefits paid and for the number of transactions, officials said Tuesday.

  The number of people trying to sign up online for new or continuing benefits was as much as triple pre-recession levels Sunday and Monday, the Employment Security Commission said. That volume, together with a phone line problem, overwhelmed the agency's computers and prevented some people from filing claims.

  The system was working again by Monday afternoon after the ESC added another server and demand lessened, said ESC spokesman Andy James.

  On Monday, the state paid more than $31.5 million in unemployment insurance benefits and handled more than 106,000 transactions _ both one-day records, James said. The previous records weren't immediately available, but James said the Web site might have gotten 23,000 hits on a busy day 18 months ago.

  The phone line problem was fixed Sunday, when 74,000 people tried to access the system, and the ESC thought the overload problem had been handled as well. But the system failed again Monday when about 55,000 people tried to file.

  Mark Turner, who was laid off in November as a company support manager but has since landed a six-month contract job, said he spent hours Sunday night trying to access the system unsuccessfully.

  "It's a bad sign for North Carolina's economy when you've got so many people trying to get into the system and it crashes," he said.

  The recession has pushed the jobless rate in North Carolina to 7.9 percent in November, the last month for which figures are available. That was the highest since October 1983.

  The ESC said payment will be delayed about a day to people who couldn't file Sunday. People who couldn't access the system Monday had until 9 p.m. Monday to get their payment the same day they normally would.

  North Carolina's ESC has about 300,000 people in its unemployment system and pays about $33 million a week in benefits.
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  StAnn

  It's going to get worse before it gets better. Have you noticed gas prices going up again?

  StAnn
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  cameo-d

  Ohio, too! Jobless system fried People can't get through online, by phone Wednesday, January 7, 2009 3:12 AM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

  Ohioans' post-holiday demand for jobless benefits has spiked sharply, crashing the state's unemployment-claims system and forcing people to wait hours, sometimes days, before getting help.

  In yet another sign of a worsening economy, the state Web site for filing claims electronically was shut down and phone lines have been jammed by more than 10 times as many requests.

  Unemployment-filing systems have crashed in at least two other states in recent days as 4.5 million Americans -- a 26-year high -- are collecting jobless benefits.

  Ohio officials say they are scrambling to hire temporary workers to staff call centers, and technicians are working to fix the Web site.

  In the past week, the state call center has been receiving about 80,000 calls a day, up from 7,500 on average last month, said Dennis Evans, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees unemployment benefits.

  "It's the volume of calls, it's the economy, it's the extended benefits -- all are increasing caseloads," he said.

  The endless busy signals and computer-error messages have left many out-of-work Ohioans, already stressed by mounting bills and fruitless job searches, on the verge of snapping.

  "It's kind of like having a beacon. You are stranded at sea and somebody says, "We're coming to save you,' and no one shows up," said Christy Jones, who lost her job in August 2007.

  http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/07/copy/busy07.ART_ART_01-07-09_A1_TQCEPK5.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
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  I quit!

  With most of the furniture manufactures from that area and probably a lot of other industries all having their goods made overseas what would we expect to happen. I think we still have a ways to go down before things get any better.
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  cameo-d

  New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Ohio.

  ....and that's just the first week of January!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZbeKhtTYJE&feature=related
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  cameo-d

  California controller to suspend tax refunds, welfare checks, student grants

  Reporting from Sacramento -- The state will suspend tax refunds, welfare checks, student grants and other payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1, Controller John Chiang announced Friday.
  
  Chiang said he had no choice but to stop making some $3.7 billion in payments in the absence of action by the governor and lawmakers to close the state's nearly $42-billion budget deficit. More than half of those payments are tax refunds. The controller said the suspended payments could be rolled into IOUs if California still lacks sufficient cash to pay its bills come March or April. The payments to be frozen include nearly $2 billion in tax refunds; $300 million in cash grants for needy families and the elderly, blind and disabled; and $13 million in grants for college students. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget17-2009jan17,0,4472460.story
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  cameo-d

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5qv7o0XJOE&feature=related
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  oompa

  it continues...i have to layoff my first layoff in over 25 years......i want to puke.....this guy is like my son..........nc guy here..................oompa
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  Redneck

  Being that NC was a huge manufacturing state that since Nafta went into effect has been losing industry it does nota surprise to me..

  Aslong as this is in effect and we keep sending jobs overseas its gonna get worse..