In his daily virtual press briefing, Governor Jim Justice said WorkForce West Virginia processed 28,500 claims representing 20 million dollars in benefits yesterday alone. In March, they processed 90,000 unemployment claims. A typical March, he said, the state would process about 3,400. For every day in April they’re now averaging 2000-6,700 claims a day.
To address the need, WorkForce West Virginia is working 24/7 from three different call centers. Justice said reports of people calling and not being able to get through are “unacceptable” and that with the additional bandwidth provided by the National Guard, they’re able to be more responsive to questions and calls.
“So we’re catching up and we’re catching up really really fast.”
On Tuesday the governor also announced WorkForce West Virginia would begin distributing an additional $600 in federal pandemic unemployment compensation for eligible unemployment claims.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.
