North Carolina Jobless Claims Crash State's Web Site

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.

Comments

[senorlou]

I'd love to know where they get these unemployment numbers from. It's way higher than whatever they say, in every state.

[dandypuddin]

Been impossible to reach a live person by phone in CA for months now. I had to call the Governor's office to find out how to get to a real person. Maybe they need to hire some of these unemployed people to help with the overload. Just an idea.

[rich misty]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=drown+government&aq=3&oq=drown+go

Republicans are cheering their two-fer... Government and Americans both drowned. They are very happy, slapping backs, and cheering "Job well done, we drowned Americans and America too!!! Yaaayyyy"

[JoeBlough]

I thought North Carolina was a red state? With all their Republican gravy, they should be doing better than most. This is why they vote Republican. To have it better than most people.

[AnnfromCA]

Partisanship has no bearing on this issue.

[senorlou]

Are you kidding me? That's what this whole disaster is about. Republican ideology put into practice = unemployment, poverty, endless wars, hatred, and stupidity. Whose policies are responsible for this disaster? It's the Republicans.

[lylo]

Yes. Yes it does.
You need only live in a red state for a decade or so to know that.

[itmaybetoolate]

NC is red on the coast and in the mountains (except for Asheville), but blue in the middle. It went for obama this year and elected a democratic senator. It is growing bluer as more folks move down from the north.

[AnnfromCA]

The same problem is happening in CA. You have to call in, but the phone system is over-saturated, and it's not possible to get through. The offices have been closed down due to budget shortfalls.

It's a disaster.

[dandypuddin]

Call the Governor's office and get another phone # to have someone return your call. It worked for me when my check was 2 weeks late 3 days before Christmas.

[jazzdad51]

OK, for educational purposes I will attempt to explain how the unemployment benefits system works. The state sets a percentage rate that the employer pays that goes into that employers' pool of benefit money. The employer pays that percentage on each persons wages,salary up to that persons first $7,000. After a person has made $7,000 the employer no longer pays into that pool for that employee for the remainder of that year. Each year it starts all over.

For example: If the rate is set at 10%(this will vary depending on whether there are any funds in the pool) the employer will pay $700 on each employee when that employee reaches $7,000.

Let's say an employer has 10 employees and he has managed to keep them working for three years. He has built $7,000 per year into his pool. He now has $21,000 for benefits set aside in his company's pool. The 4th year his rate may drop as low as 1/2 percent because no one has drawn any money. This is great for the employer because it is actually a tax on his business. Now let's say he has a bad year and has to lay off 5 people who can draw $8,000 from the employer's pool. Within 6 months the employer owes the pool $19,000. The next year his rate is increased. This is the way it is done in Tennessee, I am sure the rest of the states are similar.

[JoeBlough]

So, let's bail out this system.

[gjohntheterrible]

This is what happens when you have outdated systems trying to handle large volumes of requests. The amount of stuff the new administration along with the state governments will have to fix is growing by the second. Then again I suppose this is what happens when you neglect to spend on infrastructure for 8 years.

[murphy80]

all because the repubs have tried to starve the unemployment system ever since Reagan.

had the proper employer contributions been made over the years, the fund would be functioning

perfectly today.....................

[pc51]

Employers OWE us a job! The OWE us completely paid heathcare. Employers should pay us our complete wages even if the employer has no work available for us! Employers OWE us childcare for however many children we choose to have. Heck, Employers OWE us for getting out of bed everyday! They OWE us interesting, high-paying work with numerous breaks and mealtimes. They OWE us a well paid saftey- net that is there ready to catch us and nuture us through hard times! Employers OWE us BIGTIME and in soooo many ways, so they had better get to work on providing us the things we are entitled to NOW! If employers can't handle our demands NOW, Obama can!

[gjohntheterrible]

Your absurd statments does not distract from the fact that employers feel that workers are overpaid even when they are making next to nothing. I've yet to meet a single employer who does not feel this way about an employees salary. So lets try this instead, how about everyone who is an employee quits and lets see how far that takes a corporation before it comes to its knees. Let's see all the pilots and stewardesses for all the major airlines just up and quit. I would pay big money to see the execs try and fly the planes and serve drinks and meals to the passengers.

[junebuginFL]

How about earning it, no one owes you anything, the decisions you make in life do not constitute anything owed to you. That is called laz e ness. Is that why you voted for Obama? Get ready to feel the same way you fealt with Bush, there isnt enough money to print to give handouts the next 4/8 yrs. Dispicable way of thinking PC51.

[gjohntheterrible]

The Republicans desperately want to turn this nation into a bannana republic. They want slave labor. Note how vicious they are in their attacks on labor. Look how they fight tooth an nail against anything that has to do with benefits.

[junebuginFL]

Your comment has nothing to with this, the website crashed, I have filed unemployment once in my life and there was over $10,000 (with roughly twelve years of working) in that fund, your just looking for a reason to whine about Republicans, get a life, they are not running the show, and how are they looking for slave labor, taxes push jobs to areas where cost of business is cheaper, and thats what your seeing, higher taxes have a lot to do with it, look at MI, its a blue state and have tough economic conditions. What happened to the Ds looking out for their people in MI. RI, same thing, get over your uninformed rants.

[DFL]

Yes republicans want a third world banana republic with 5% rich and 95% poor, they wont be happy til almost everyone is standing in a bread line or homeless shelter line, when it comes to the economy the GOP party stood by and did nothing just like they did in LA. with katrina!

[junebuginFL]

The report never said anything about funds not being available, its the volume of requests that shut it down. States, at least FL have accounts for each individual as they work, your employer contributes to. Uninformed individuals who are partisan will look for any reason to point a finger at Reagan or Repub. Its laughable how igno rant one (many) can be.

[whirling]

If you call on the phone they will put you on hold till you go over your cell phone minutes. Beware!

[frantaylor]

This is what you get for making important calls with a cell phone.

[ddanaan]

The same thing is happening in Ohio. My wife got laid off yesterday and couldn't log onto the unemployment site. When she called they said it had crashed due to a ten fold increase in applicants (83000 if my memory serves)

[hellboundtrain]

Rhodes scholar President Bill Clinton wasn't smart enough to foresee the disastrous effects of signing of NAFTA? George H.W. Bush was not prescient enough, either, to correctly assume this BEFORE he got the ball rolling on his globalization project?

Deception begets betrayal.

The higher up anybody is placed upon a pedestal, the farther they have for the eventual fall.

[pc51]

Yeah but when the hit the ground the splatter all over us.

[sueinmn]

Scholars for years have been saying how bad the NAFTA agreement is for Americans. It is politically motivated by a few very rich Republicans to remain as is. They have vested interests of profits in across the border companies. Do you think the Mexicans had the money for start up companies? Ever watch the movie "Bordertown"? Every one should as its a true story. Ford motor enjoys $1.50/hr Mexican wages with NAFTA. McCain's platform stood to keep NAFTA and CAFTA unchanged. They have presently, or recently endorced another thirty countries to be included in Cafta. These trade agreements MUST go if America is ever to become a viable country again and employer greed MUST change or America will be sunk like a shipwreck! Its tanking water now like the titanic. Cheap imports is our own destruction and its been coming on for the last twentyfive years. We all are guilty of it as we rush to spend our hard earned dollars at the big box stores. Now their is little left USA made products. Can it be turned around or will we all follow suit and continue this madness?

[junebuginFL]

So why did Clinton support so much and Obama? We cant compete with cheap labor, we require a certain "standard of living" and thats just the way it is. Or you can get educated and find a real job, thats a choice you made as an individual, and if you opted out, you wont make more than 20-30K a year. Unless you have a really good idea and are one of the few. Sorry, but your conspiracy theory is full of holes.

[amond1]

NY has the same problem. It took a relative of mine 4 days to file his claim. The internet system kept saying "error" and the phone system just hung up on him each time he called.

[dandypuddin]

And trust me, after it's filed, some worker on the receiving end will delay it saying there is some problem with it.

[jazzdad51]

Unemployment compensation is just another trainwreck that has been waiting to happen for years. For your information taxpayers do not pay one dime towards it. It is payed for by the employers who struggle desperately to keep people working. I know because I own a small construction company which does less than a million a year in total sales. I am now indebted to the unemployment fiasco over half a million bucks. The way it is set up, I'll never come out of it. The cause for it's coming collapse is because the people it is designed to help abuse the priviledge and take it for every penny they can get.

[greeniefromOH]

I understand your frustration and I see your point; however, I think you are pointing the finger in the wrong direction. You assert that the 'privilege' of benefits has been abused -- do you have solid evidence to back this up? Perhaps you should be looking at your government, banking system, and overall leadership in order to find the ones truly at fault for the situation. In ordinary times, there is a small amount of welfare / unemployment fraud -- very small! -- which can be absorbed by the system as a whole, because it is designed to absorb a certain amount of misuse. But the problem we have now is not due to an increase in fraudulent cases.

[jazzdad51]

I have been in business for 16 years. At one time I employed over 60 people. Construction work is up and down(mostly down for the last 8 years). I have a list of over 140 people that I have paid out in claims. 90% of them drew out all of the compensation more times than once, rather than going and finding another job that was available. Many of them will draw unemployment while working under the table for cash. The most I paid to one individual was over $24,000. I ask you. What good did it do for me to provide employment for this type of employee?

[pc51]

Oh please, everyone knows that unemployment benefits mean a six month paid vacation. Obviously you were born into a level of socio-economic status that has no need to scam the system because you guys are already set. Either that or you are part of the huge apparatus that is guaranteed a cushy job with great benefits and lifetime pension for passing the unemployment goodies out to as many people as you can, to assure your own job. There is practically an entire industry (state and "underground") in advising and assisting people how to get fired in a manner that ensures that they get benefits. The amount of fraud in ordinary times was so vast, that now that they actually need the system for legitmate reasons they are screwed.

[Erdgeist]

I take it that you are a negative balance employer, in other words, you've take more out of the system than you've put in.

[CaptainHowdy]

Funny, my company grosses between 1-2 million a year and we've NEVER had problems dealing with handling unemployment benefits.

You also get a pretty hefty tax benefit to offset the cost. So your comment about taxpayers not footing the bill is complete and utter nonsense.

Sounds like the real problem is that you're a complete m o r o n and don't have a clue on how to run a business properly. Perhaps you should shift your eyes to Wall Street or the government, where your skills (or lack thereof) would be more appropriate.

[junebuginFL]

Captain, the employer does pay most if not all benefits for unemployment, you must have enough business coming n to cover it, but the individual does not pay near what an employer pays. I have been in FL since 96 and when I filed last back in 07, there was a lot of money in there, so its an account that continues to grow, no need to attack someone, Jazz was for the most part correct. And people do abuse it, but that pulls from that individuals account that can eventually run dry if there is not enough or been on too long.

[FreedomCorpse]

Wrong. When jobs are encouraged by govt policy to leave the country so multi-nationals can exploit cost structures of 3rd world countries against US workers and cost structures, there aren't jobs for people to go to when a layoff occurs. Every 'made in china' marked on something all of us have been forced to buy because so little is made in the US now was a warning sign.

[Runruff]

I'm sorry that there are people out there without income BUT we still have 100 million pot smokers out there and we will need that 50 billion we annually spend on prohibition to go after them.

Once caught we will spend another 100 billion on incarceration and probation for these dangerous, violent denizens.

We have spent 0ne trillion on pot prohibition, we can't give up now!

I believe in about another 100 years we may be at about status quo on this deal. That is, where we are at now.

[TheBlackCat]

Amen to that.

Luckily my home state of Massachusetts just decriminalized it, so no more wasteful spending in that regard.

If only they'd legalize and tax it next! But I know that's too much to hope for.

[junebuginFL]

Yep, my thoughts exactly

[pc51]

Duhh- they are doing something ILLEGAL.

[Zeje]

Why is smoking pot illegal? I don't understand, never did.

[junebuginFL]

Why not legalize it, the govt could tax the crap out of it and maybe pay off the deficit. You wont stop them from continuing their behavior with a slap on the wrist.

[leatherneck1971]

Analyst predicts 40% unemployment and no relief till 2015!

http://www.prisonplanet.com/analyst-predicts-40-unemployment-no-recovery-until-2015.html

[junebuginFL]

Leather, I dont think you even read or understood your own link, real unemployment is half of that figure. Its at 30 now with real at 15 16% and can go up to 20% (your 40). Its all still very bad, but just wanted to clarify.