SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jobless claims in Utah ballooned again last week as tens of thousands of people forced out of work during the coronavirus crisis flooded a system that had been staffed to handle a trickle during a time of historically low unemployment.
Numbers released Thursday show 28,560 new unemployment claims, a nearly 50% increase from the already record-setting levels from the week before as businesses close to slow the spread of the pandemic that’s infected more than 1,000 people in Utah and hospitalized 100.
“It is absolutely a historic volume,” said Kevin Burt, unemployment insurance division director for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. “We’ve never had it hit as fast as it did.”
There have been nearly as many claims in the last two weeks than all of 2019, he said.
The sudden onslaught is creating a strain for people like Duane Shepherd, 53, who tried to file for unemployment for the first time this week after getting laid off his from his trucking job with an oil-and-gas servicing company in Vernal following a steep drop in oil prices worldwide.
He said he gave up in frustration after the online system barred him from backing up to fix a minor error in his application. The online-chat function was unavailable, and when he called an automated recording told him the department was not accepting phone calls due to the high volume of requests. He considered going to the office in person, but a friend who worked there said he’d be routed back to the phones.
“The system is broken, it’s absolutely broken. I don’t know how people aren’t climbing the walls with frustration,” he said. Shepherd, who has served as a Uintah County commissioner and local GOP party chair, is especially worried about others who don’t have experience with government.
“They go day to day, paycheck to paycheck. They don’t have anything saved, because they couldn’t,” he said. He’s planning to try to file again and live on his small savings as he looks for work.
While the numbers show that thousands of other people are getting through to file applications, the state is trying to fix problems by ramping up staffing as authorities work through their own coronavirus-challenges, Burt said. Shepherd’s experience shows why they’re asking people to avoid calling about things like the status of their benefits, to leave room for other questions.
Burt also reminded people that after their initial filing, they have to fill out brief weekly check-ins to keep receiving benefits.
Though the increase is historic, “we are committed to try and provide this benefit because we understand how critical it is,” he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
