Unemployment frustrations mount

Many are still facing difficulty filing for unemployment weeks after non-essential businesses were closed across the state.

Are the people answering them.

But state lawmakers say the seemingly impossible process of filing for unemployment should get a bit easier by the end of the week.

Newschannel 2's joleen ferris is live outside the state office building with the details.

Joleen?

Thanks, kristen.

We've received calls from people telling us that hours on the phone and dozens of attempts got them nowhere.

Others have already seen money in their accounts.

The good news is, things should soon get a lot easier.

For some, the process of applying for unemployment benefits has been almost as stressful as the freedom - restricting, movement- limiting, paycheck halting global pandemic itself.

:50 "i personally have made probably more than 5000 attempts to get through on the 800 number" doug singleton has an antiques and estate business in oneida, that serves five counties.

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None .

None 58 "one of the most frustrating parts is when you finally connect, you go through a three-minute set of prompts and when it gets to the part where it says hold on for a claims representative, it cuts you off" 4:37 "why aren't you put into a cue, once you finally get through?"

Senator joe griffo says no one is denying there have been problems 2:41 "in talking to both the commissioner of the department of labor and the governor's staff, they've acknowledged that they've had some problems with the system being overwhelmed" the bigger issue- what are they doing to fix the problem?

3:06 they have really ramped up hiring individuals to have that personal contact that has to be done.

The problem with that is it's traditionally a six-week training experience and they're bringing that down to three days" the same banner on the state labor department website that warns of long wait times reassures that everyone entitled will get benefits.....senator griffo says the system should be more navigable and wait times shorter by the end of the week.

So for now, as contradictory as it might seem, perhaps the best course of action is to wait a day or two 4:26 "one of the problems that's causing the issue i'm told is auto dial.

A lot of people are putting it on auto dial so they're just so overwhelmed, that's contributing to some of the issues that they're having" so i would say if you can, wait a day or two" > governor cuomo, during his