New Jersey Opens New Unemployment Call Center

While call centers across the country have seen a spike in demand – or at least a change in the way customers are reaching out – few are seeing as much volume as those handling unemployment claims. Faced with millions of new applications and existing claimants, unemployment call centers have struggled to meet volume while simultaneously attempting to protect their own workers from infection.

The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development announce last week that 1.24 million workers, or 28 percent of the state’s current labor force, have file for unemployment since the COVID-19 pandemic began in mid-March, according to ROINJ. The DOL said it took in 26,392 new unemployment claims for the week, a 14 percent increase from the week before. During the height of the pandemic, the department experienced nearly 215,000 claims in a week. Keeping up with these claims has presented a challenge.

To address the volume, the state opened a new call center last week. The center was open for testing and training on Monday, had a “soft open” on Tuesday and was “operational” starting on Wednesday, according to Labor Department spokeswoman Angela Delli-Santi.

“The call center is supplementing the many dedicated call center staff who have been working overtime for many weeks to get to as many calls as possible,” Delli-Santi said. “Some of those calls are relatively quick, less than five minutes. Others take considerably longer to resolve. But, all agents continue to do the best they can to get to as many calls as possible.”

In addition to taking more calls, the center has implemented more self-service technologies that should reduce applicants’ needs to speak to a human representative. These technologies include back-end IT improvements, the automation of certain functions, a chat feature, improved website FAQs and an email intake form.

The state has warned, however, that despite the new call center, some New Jersey unemployment applicants may still experience lengthy waits for a live agent.

Callers don’t need to use a new number to reach the center, Delli-Santi said. They can use the regional numbers posted on the Department of Labor’s website.

Edited by Maurice Nagle