MDES reax

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security sees a surge in claims being filed for unemployment benefits.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus is forcing many businesses to close.... sparking a wave of layoffs.

Now, thousands are filing for unemployment... but as we've reported recently, many are having a hard time getting that help.

The state department of employment security says.... that's because of an increased number of people now looking to file claims... our quentin smith has more.

As of last week.... more than 30 thousand mississippians have filed for unemployment benefits... and that number continues to increase... "it's unreal how much it's increased in just the last three weeks."

Jackie turner is the executive director for the mississippi department of employment security... she says anyone who's lost their job is eligible to file for employment..... and thanks to a piece of legislation passed by president...those who've lost their jobs due to this pandemic are able to receive additional benefits to help them stay afloat.

"under the cares act signed by the president, individuals may be eligible for an additional $600 a week in addition to their regular unemployment benefits."

For anyone looking to file a claim... mdes encourages calling the numbers listed on their website to get started... i'm recent weeks, people have voiced their frustrations about long wait times and not being able to get ahold of anyone when they call... turner says it's due to an unprecedented work load.

" we have 250 phone lines coming into the agency, but remember, the economy was good, so it was a normal workload.

All of a sudden there are thousands and thousands of people trying to reach us at one time.

We have increased our capacity over to time, we are implementing a new call center next week."

Mdes said it's doing its best to answer everyone who's filing a claim.

The department is even working seven days a week now.

"it's frustrating for you all in mississippi and it's frustrating for us then we can't serve you timely.

We ask for patients even though patience is thin, we will get to everyone as quickly as possible, and know that we are implementing new ways every day to do such things."

" if the individual who has not had the chance to talk to someone or file their claim, eventually we will service them and any benefits they are due, that they haven't been paid for and qualified for, we will pay them those benefits."

When filing a claim, you have to set up a user-name using an email and password... if you happen to forget those, you can retrieve that information by calling into the agency... or contacting someone at your local w-i-n job center....