The number of processed unemployment claims dropped this week, but remains more than 10 times higher than the same period last year, according to data released Thursday by the Vermont Department of Labor.
But previous weeks have seen a backlog of unprocessed claims that are still higher than the reported processed numbers.
The labor department reported last week that 70,000 Vermonters had applied for unemployment since the crisis began. This week, it reported that 78,098 claims have been processed since March 15.
It reported Thursday that the state had processed 9,662 unemployment insurance claims in the past week and had received a total of 13,511 initial claims. That’s a drop compared to 16,474 processed the previous week and 14,633 processed the week before.
In previous weeks, the DOL had said it predicted a drop in new claims as the initial surge in layoffs and job losses died down.
That dropoff, however, is still a far higher number than the 698 claims the DOL received for the same time period a year ago.
The drop in claims comes as the state’s unemployment system remains backlogged and inundated with phone calls and requests.
Thousands of Vermonters have been struggling to receive benefits through the unemployment system, as many report facing delays in reaching labor officials, or addressing problems with their claims.
In an interview Wednesday evening, acting labor commissioner Michael Harrington said there are likely 20,000-30,000 people who have been deemed eligible to receive benefits, but aren’t receiving payments because the system is overwhelmed.
The department has identified about 60,000 Vermonters who have qualified for unemployment assistance during the Covid-19 crisis, according to Harrington. But of those people, only about half are getting checks from the state.
He said minor errors and conflicting information on claims have prevented benefits from flowing to many of these Vermonters. Those who have missed weekly claims filing deadlines have also seen freezes on their payments.
These errors and minor snags have been hard to resolve, given that the system has been inundated with claims and requests.
Labor officials are working to make technical changes to the system: “We are looking at different automated or systematic ways to clear some of these in a more timely or expeditious manner,” Harrington said.
Despite its efforts to staff up the labor department during the pandemic, the Scott administration has come under criticism from lawmakers for not directing enough resources to the unemployment insurance system.
Since the virus surged in March, the labor department has brought on 55-60 additional staff members on top of the 60-65 employees who were already working within the state’s unemployment insurance system.
But leaders of the Vermont House and Senate said this week that the labor department should increase staff for the program by double, triple, or even more.
The labor commissioner said that bringing on additional staff would help, but that the build-up of claims is so great that no number of employees would be able to solve the issue immediately. Plus, it would also take time and resources to train those new staff members.
“We could onboard another hundred or five hundred staff and it would still take us time to move through this backlog,” Harrington said.
The commissioner said that in the end, he believes the answer to the problem will be finding a way to “manipulate the system” so that claim issues can be resolved more quickly, and with less reliance on staff members.
