The novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 has undone the world as we know it. Our relationships and interactions with the outside world and with each other have changed completely in just the last few weeks. These changes are unsettling. Will national and international borders remain closed? When will be able to resume our everyday lives or even be able to do something as simple as step out to our favorite restaurants, bars or cafés? Will human touch become taboo? Will our lives ever be the “same” again?
COVID-19 has forced millions of layoffs in the United States with many more millions who could be affected in the weeks to come. Businesses in the hospitality, retail, entertainment, travel, and food industries are the hardest hit. According to a Department of Labor (DOL) press-release, in the week ending March 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims was 3,283,000, an increase of 3,002,000 from the previous week's revised level of 281,000. This is the highest level for initial claims since September 2, 2017, when it was 299,000. The record unemployment benefits applications filed by Americans last week was more than quadruple the previous record set in 2009. Many state workforce agency unemployment websites are crashing because of the spike in UI initial claims. The New York Department of Labor department has seen a 1000% rise in claims in some areas, according to a news report. The department has extended its hours and implemented a new system that requires applicants to only file claims on the day of the week that corresponds with their last name.
Source of image: NY Department of Labor Facebook Page
Many states are ill-equipped to handle the enormous influx of unemployed workers seeking benefits. State officials often urge people to file for claims online to avoid long holds on the phone or lines at the unemployment office, but that advice doesn’t do much good if the websites are crippled and fail under a load of high claim volume - and most do. In 2018, a detailed review of 400 state government websites by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank, found that many of these websites needed significant improvements to better serve the public.
Every crisis presents unique challenges. Overcoming those challenges often leads to innovative and creative solutions. For example, 9/11 changed how we travel and what we are willing to endure in our lives in the name of security. The 2009 great recession forever changed the backbone of our financial industry. Crisis disruption reshapes our societies and economy. The COVID-19 is truly unprecedented in that it has disrupted both our day to day lives and our economy. The only way to meet this moment and overcome the challenges we face is to employ digital innovation across business and government to serve the public.
Now is the time for states to invest in the latest technology to avoid long wait times or crashing websites for citizens in dire need. What steps can you take?
Short-term solutions
Read more about how Sagitec offers chat solutions.
Read more about Sagitec’s MOBIAS solution that puts self-service features in the fingertips of claimants.
Read more about Neofraud, Sagitec’s solution to detect Unemployment Insurance fraud.
Long term solutions
Read more about Sagitec’s Neosurance solution that helps you avoid technology obsolescence with its tiered architecture and ability to scale.
Read more about how Sagitec implemented Microsoft Azure Government Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution, a highly secure and scalable, FedRAMP-Certified Government Community Cloud (GCC) solution. Microsoft Azure is secure, highly available, resilient, and scales to government customer demands. Azure Storage is a scalable storage service in the cloud, which can auto-scale up or down to meet massive volumes with a 99.9% monthly uptime SLA. Our solution is also proactive meaning that agencies don’t have to call us to inform us about the increase in demand unlike some of the other solutions in the market.
Technology, in the months to come, may become the only accessible or viable alternative to be in touch with the outside world. State and local governments must think creatively and smartly employ technology to best serve their constituents in this time of the crisis.
Reach out to us to know more about labor and employment solutions and download our chatbot infographic.