Fewer Than 1% of Calls From State Residents Seeking Unemployment Benefits Answered
Tuesday, September 29th, 2020 -- 8:05 AM
(AP) -Fewer than 1% of calls from Wisconsin residents seeking unemployment benefits amid the early months of the coronavirus pandemic got answered as newly jobless workers were unable to get through to call centers, an audit released Friday shows.The analysis from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found that 93.3% of the 41 million calls to the state Department of Workforce Development unemployment call centers between March 15 and June 30 were blocked, or callers received busy signals. About 6% of callers hung up before reaching anyone and only 0.5% of calls were ultimately answered. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the audit backed up complaints that the newspaper has heard from hundreds of people who tried to get benefits after losing work because of the pandemic.
The report was released a week after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers obtained the agency chief’s resignation over lack of progress in clearing claims from more than 90,000 people.
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