Here & Now

How Wisconsin is Handling Unemployment amid COVID-19

Frederica Freyberg:

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to layoffs and furloughs as businesses close or see a drop in sales. A record number of Wisconsin residents are applying for unemployment, causing delays in the request to hire more staff. Secretary Caleb Frostman heads the Department of Workforce Development and he joined us earlier. Secretary, thanks very much for talking with us about this.

Caleb Frostman:

You bet, Frederica. Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, one important thing unemployment claimants should know right now is that the extra $600 a week started this week. Describe how that works for people getting unemployment benefits.

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. For anyone receiving even $1 in unemployment insurance or pandemic unemployment assistance, they are eligible for what’s called federal pandemic unemployment compensation and that’s $600 a week that will show up the same way you get your UI payments, so no other steps are needed, but that is back datable to early April. Folks have already seen some of those back payments to their date of eligibility and it will continue going forward throughout the rest of this pandemic, through the end of July.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. So if a person is eligible for unemployment, say as of this week, but doesn’t end up getting it just yet, is that $600 as you were saying retroactive?

Caleb Frostman:

It is. So it’s retroactive to the passage of the CARES Act, which will backdate it to early April. So there are folks that have received multiple weeks in the first couple days of payments here, which has been a significant sum for those families that were waiting for those dollars.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do the numbers look like right now? How many people have filed due to job loss because of COVID-19?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. So we’ve had over 400,000 people apply for unemployment, at least checking the box that it’s due to COVID-19, and a metric we look at closely. The weekly claims that were filed before COVID-19 were around 25,000. The week ending last Saturday was over 340,000, so it’s been a really rapid increase over the course of the last six weeks.

Frederica Freyberg:

Describe how this overwhelmed your agency.

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. Well, I think, you know, the big piece that most folks have probably seen in the public and if they have interacted with our system, our call center has been overwhelmed. We’ve made some significant telecom improvements. There are a lot of people in COVID-19 interacting with the unemployment insurance system for the first time in their lives. There are a lot of questions. We’ve worked very hard to make sure our website is user-friendly and we have really helpful FAQs and other assistance out there available for claimants. But that piece has been really a big backlog for us, has been just the volume of claims in any economy, a number of claims need to be adjudicated to determine eligibility and so we’re seeing volumes like 400,000 new claimants. Even if that percentage stays the same and is likely gone up because of the new folks interacting with the system, that’s a significant backlog for us as well, trying to determine eligibility for a number of claimants here in the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the best way for people to apply? How can they hope to kind of speed up this process or cut through, you know, all of these other people who are out there trying to apply and your staff and people you’ve hired up trying to help them? What’s the best way for people to apply and get unemployment benefits?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. That’s a great question. I’m really glad you’ve asked it. And something that we — anytime I get a chance to be on a teleconference or an interview on TV I want to make sure that I really emphasize the importance of applying online. So folks have access to a computer and internet or even a smartphone with a cell signal, folks can apply online. We’ve been able to process as many as 25,000 claims in one day. But 99% of those are done online. If folks have access to a computer and internet, that is the best way to get your claim processed quickly and accurately. If there are no questions, and if the claim is entered accurately, we can see approval and determinations within two to three days. So that’s the very best way that new claimants can get their claim in the hopper quickly.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you expect the Department of Workforce Development to also have to take a 5% agency cut that the governor announced this week?

Caleb Frostman:

Yes. So we have been working on that since the decision was made earlier this week, and we will likely have to identify 5% to lapse before the end of the fiscal year on June 30 of 2020. So we’re working hard to identify areas where we can make that happen before the end of the year.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, though, that comes at the same time that your system is crushed, you know, by these numbers of claimants. How are you going to do that?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. Well, I think we’re trying to be as creative as possible. We have six different divisions within DWD. Obviously, unemployment insurance is getting the lion’s share of our efforts. But we’re hopeful that either by holding back on maybe some planned expenses or other areas where we can lapse funds versus make proactive cuts that we can creatively make that happen. But I think there’s an understanding of course across the administration that our agency is one of the very most affected. And so we’re trying to be as smart and strategic as possible on how we can make that metric work while still serving Wisconsin claimants.

Frederica Freyberg:

Secretary Frostman, thanks very much for joining us and good luck.

Caleb Frostman:

Thanks Frederica. Appreciate it.