State's unemployment filers wait longer for help

While Oregon's unemployment filing systems have so far withstood the flood of new claims for benefits, call wait times continue to be lengthy, and the flow of new claimants doesn't appear to be slowing.

Wait times for assistance at the state employment office's hotline have decreased from a high of an average of 46 minutes Oct. 6 to 17 minutes Thursday, in part because of a push for users to file online for unemployment benefits.

"We are working on it so hard that we've avoided a crash of the system, and wait times have decreased on the phone because of the effort we're making," said Tom Fuller, spokesman for WorkSource Oregon, a statewide network that connects workers and employers.

Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in New York, North Carolina and Ohio because of technical problems and a surge of new applicants.

An estimated 154,623 Oregonians were receiving unemployment benefits as of Thursday, according to the employment department.

"It's increasing rapidly," Fuller said.

Jackson County's unemployment rate hit 8.7 percent last month, higher than the state average of 8.1 percent.

To accommodate the influx of applicants, the state employment office recently added Saturday hours at most field offices, including Medford, to help handle the increase in need for services.

The agency also beefed up its number of claim takers on the phones, from 84 to 200, Fuller said.

Chuck Hazen, who was laid off in August from Knife River Corp. (formerly LTM) in Central Point, said he filed his claim over the phone because he's not adept with computers. The wait, however, was only about 15 minutes, Hazen said.

Jobs that used to be easy to find are now rare, he said.

"This is the longest I've been unemployed," he said.

The employment department's goal is for 80 percent of claimants to file for benefits online to free up the agency's toll-free phone line, 1-877-728-7970, for more complicated cases.

Medford falls below that target percentage with about 68 percent of applicants filing online compared to 80 percent in Corvallis, 73 percent in Portland and 71 percent in Eugene.

A cadre of computers is available at the Medford employment offices for use in filing claims and in searching for jobs.

Leaving the double glass doors at the Medford employment office, Kyle Henson said, "It's busy in there."

Henson, who was laid off from Hubbard's Hardware on Highway 62 last month, chose to file for his unemployment benefits online because he heard about call wait times of 45 minutes.

"It's easier to do stuff online," he said.

"I'm getting unemployment now, but it's tough finding a job," he added.

Henson said his employer promised to hire him back when business picks up again at the hardware store.