COLUMN: Getting unemployment benefits a problem?

Well, maybe the severe need for employees is easing.

That’s the impression I get, but I could be wrong.

I get that impression for a couple of reasons.

First, there are fewer signs in restaurant windows that say “Hiring now.”

Another reason is the state seems to be a contrary partner for people signing up for unemployment.

At least that’s true if you listen to Jenn Sands, a Port Charlotte woman with a master’s degree that has been out of work since she got laid off in April. She was officially eligible for unemployment benefits June 30.

Now that may not seem like a long time to be left hanging, but it is if you need to pay your rent.

I’ll let Sands tell you what she’s gone through trying to get help from the state’s Reemployment Assistance Resource Center — which if you recall was a real problem during the pandemic.

“The system would not pick up my phone calls,” she told me in a phone interview. “I reapplied three separate times, and it kicked me off the phone. I kept getting this message ‘Your call is important to us … blah, blah, blah.

“I tried online. It asks for five employers you have applied to. I did that twice. When I do, it says there is a problem because I worked a week in June. But I did not.

“Then it tells me to call customer service. I have called more than a dozen times in the past 10 days, and they give you numbers to punch for help and then you get a recording and it hangs up on you.”

Do you feel the frustration?

“I only have until July 18 (she called last week) before I get maximum help of $275, before taxes.

“It’s almost not worth it. I do have a side business which helps, but my rent is almost $2,000 a month. Without the unemployment I (may get evicted).

“I can imagine what people who don’t have the time I do or are unfamiliar with computers are going through.

“I’ve worked in the state since 2017 paying into unemployment.”

Sands said she followed advice and went to the state career source center, but all they did was put her on a phone to make the same calls.

I decided to give it a try. I called the state number as if I was unemployed.

If you needed further assistance about your account, call 1-833-352-7759, is what the internet site tells me to do.

I called. I then had to press 1, then 8, then got put on hold.

I got a message “you can hold for one hour, 51 minutes or we can call you back. Goodbye.”

I did get a call back, two hours after I left work.

Is this a rare story of a problem? Or have some readers experienced the same issues?