Projo Biz Blog

People who phone Rhode Island's unemployment call center wind up on hold for more than an hour on average before they can file claims for benefits -- assuming they can get through at all.

The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training has shaved about 18 minutes off the average wait time, which was 95 minutes last week. But callers are still on hold for 77 minutes on average, state officials acknowledged at a House Finance Committee hearing at the State House today.

That is not good enough, said the committee's chairman, state Rep. Steven M. Costantino (D-Providence). He ordered state officials to produce a formal plan that will bring wait times -- and the backlog of online claims for benefits -- back to normal as soon as possible.

"We need to know the plan [for] what's going to get this . . . back to reasonable numbers," Costantino told Sandra M. Powell, the agency's director. "You've hired a whole bunch of people. You've still got waits, though reduced . . . . We need to see the plan."

State Rep.Elizabeth M. Dennigan (D-East Providence), a committee member, said, "People are desperate, but it's still taking quite a bit of time" for the unemployed to get their claims for benefits processed. Powell said she anticipates providing the committee within two weeks a formal plan showing how the agency will resolve the problems.

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