[RaceBannon]

Gary Horn, of West Hartford, says he and his wife, who has been unemployed from a playground design company for a year, got through to the Labor Department's automatic filing system after hours of trying.

The system overload comes just a couple days after the state announces that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.8 percent in October to 8.2 percent.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut

[Red in Blue PA]

The same thing happened here in PA this past Sunday as I tried to log on.

[RaceBannon]

A spokeswoman says the Department of Labor issued 156,673 benefit checks during the week of Dec. 13-19, up nearly 50 percent from 105,431 last year. . . The system overload comes just a couple days after the state announces that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.8 percent in October to 8.2 percent.

Anyone else find a dichotomy in that statement??

[Hodar]

Maybe if the Gov’t tries to raise taxes and increase entitlements things will get better ....... < /sarcasm>

I believe the liberals truly want to bankrupt this country, intentionally and with malice of forethought. Because, when they destroy America, they will be free to replace our ‘ancient Constitution’ with anything they want.

[wintertime]

The system overload comes just a couple days after the state announces that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.8 percent in October to 8.2 percent.

Somebody's nose is growing?

[Hegemony Cricket]

Hmmm. Wonder if they’re hiring?

[ikka]

This happened to someone I know who lived in PA but was employed by a NJ company. It was completely impossible for him to get through via phone, and he could not file over the web because his address kept getting rejected.

[TLI]

A spokeswoman says the Department of Labor issued 156,673 benefit checks during the week of Dec. 13-19, up nearly 50 percent from 105,431 last year.

The agency has been "incredibly busy" with claims and was "flooded with calls," she said.

The only thing missing is the requisite "unexpected."

Apparently bull$&it and happy thoughts don't do squat for the folks out of a job.

[ClearCase_guy]

Just like the Global Warming data, unemployment figures are filtered through algorithms. There are mathematical formulas which seem to currently indicate that unemployment is getting a bit better. But are those formulas accurate? Are the seasonal adjustment figures being overdone?

I would say that an overwhelming number of calls at state agencies is concrete proof that things are not as rosy as the government figures indicate.

Once again, the government is just lying to us.

[Le Chien Rouge]

This is how Cloward-Piven works....overload the system.

[grey_whiskers]

Yeah. The poor unionized government workers might have to work past 2:30 PM on a Thursday.

Life is rough when you are SERVING the PEOPLE.

Cheers!

[eak3]

The state of MD actually punished me for going back to work .. i took a job at half the salary i was making, just so i could get working again, and instead of getting partial compensation, as my living expenses were still based on my old salary, they denied me any future compensation.. The good is im dealing with it and learning to live with less.. however its still a shame that people get punished for not trying to take advantage of the system.

[concerned about politics]

This seems to be happening everywhere. The jobs just keep crashing.

Who can blame businesses, though? Maybe they're going Galt. Maybe the citizens are having a private protest and not spending. I know I'm holding back. I'm not going to do anything to help bail this government out of the social mess it's created. What ever it is, it all leads back to Oboma and his democrat minions.

[pnh102]

Unemployment Calls Overwhelm Server.

Was this "unexpected" as well?

[YankeeReb]

Their whole methodology of calculating unemployment is a sham as is Soetoro's cynical ploy of giving extensions to states above a certain level (Hey!!! ya think the two are related?). I submit that a person unemployed in CT with an "8.8%" unemployment rate is just as out of work as a person in a state like MI with a 15% unemployment rate.

In my case I have been finding temp and part time work so I'm only collecting a partial check. Am I counted? I don't know. In any event, being in construction, I have a lot of friends who can't find work, most of them voted for Capt'n Hope-n-Change. Not one of them is happier collecting a check than working and not one of them thinks we're doing the right thing.