A critical aspect of dealing with the coronavirus crisis has not gone so well in Mississippi: processing unemployment claims.
There have been numerous reports of delays in getting the money out and ungodly long times of being left on hold when trying to talk with someone at the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
Part of the problem, of course, is the unprecedented volume of claims created by the broad shutdown of the economy. Where Mississippi might, in normal times, have seen about 1,000 new unemployment claims a week, it has been averaging more like 25,000 a week since mid-March. Although MDES has added staff and hours to try to keep up with the deluge, the agency is still overwhelmed.
This isn’t good. If the unemployed can’t get the help for which they qualify, they can’t pay their bills. This further depresses the economy and potentially produces more unemployment, not to mention the additional worry it creates for the jobless.
It’s imperative that Gov. Tate Reeves and his appointees fix this problem.
