Fergie's Tech Blog

Unemployment Claims Crash State Web Sites

Rich Miller writes on Data Center Knowledge:

A sign of the times: a surge in filings for unemployment benefits has apparently crashed online application systems in four states this week. Phone systems appear to be faring even worse in handling the logjams in jobless claims. Here’s a summary:

• North Carolina’s web site for filing unemployment claims was offline Sunday and Monday, when the system experienced three times its usual volume. The site returned to service Monday after state officials added another server to accommodate demand.
• Ohio’s online system for jobless claims was down Monday and Tuesday, with state officials citing unusual volume as the cause.
• New York’s Internet claims system failed Monday afternoon and was out of service completely for the first half of Tuesday. A state official attributed the downtime to technical problems with authentication systems.
• Kentucky’s system has also cratered under load, according to the Courier-Journal. Thanks to commenter BOFE for the tip.

Phone systems for filing unemployment claims were overwhelmed in multiple states, creating a silver lining: states are now hiring extra call center workers to field the extra call volume.

posted by Fergie @ 1/08/2009 05:05:00 PM