Font Size

Colorado & Denver News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Colorado Unemployment Office Wait Times To Improve

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share +

Jul 2, 2009 9:05 pm US/Mountain

Colorado Unemployment Office Wait Times To Improve

DENVER (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Unemployment benefits seeker Joe Sosias talks to CBS4's Karlyn Tilley
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Colorado's unemployed have been dealing with a double whammy. Those who need unemployment benefits the most seem to have the hardest time claiming that money.

In the year since the state's unemployment numbers soared, Colorado's system for delivering jobless benefits remains slow.

"You call em, they send you through, like a four minute loop, and then they end up hanging up on you cause there's no available assistance there," said unemployment benefit seeker Jeff Sosias.

Don Mares, Executive Director of Colorado Labor and Employment Department, said big changes have already taken place, and more are in store. There are dozens of additional employees taking calls, and there are more services offered online than ever before.

Mares warns rushing into a quick fix would have done more harm than good. "To change the core of an IT system, to do it differently is not something you can do overnight, nor would you want to do it overnight because the worst thing we could do it try to fix it mid-air and have it crash that way," said Mares.

In about three weeks, changes are planned to the phone system. The unemployment office call center will offer an automated system, which means less personal contact, but also fewer busy signals.

More services will be added online in about four months.

"We've gotten better. I will absolutely admit to the folks who are listening that we still have a ways to go," said Mares.

Colorado's unemployment rate is 7.6 percent. It's expected to reach at least eight percent by the end of the year.

Curious & Controversial News

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.