Texas’ unemployment benefit system is struggling to keep up with a “significant” surge in claims from a coronavirus-induced downturn in the state’s economy.

The phone lines are giving a constant busy signal at the number Texans are supposed to call to register for unemployment benefits with the Texas Workforce Commission. The state’s website also is struggling to keep up with increased volume.

“TWC is experiencing a significant increase in the number of people calling the unemployment insurance number and visiting the TWC website," said TWC spokesman Cisco Gamez in a statement. "We recognize the inconvenience this is causing for our customers and are working quickly to resolve issues for Texans trying to connect online or over the phone.”

Texas no longer uses offices where people can apply for unemployment benefits and applications must be filed over the phone or online.

Texas saw a 12% surge in unemployment claims for the week ending March 14 compared with a week before. More than 16,000 people in the state filed for unemployment. Economists are expecting a more dramatic increase in unemployment claims when data for last week is released Thursday.

Nationally, more than 281,000 people filed for unemployment for the week ending March 14, the most since September 2017. But economists at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, estimate that nationwide unemployment claims will spike to nearly 3.4 million for last week when data is released.

Texas alone is expected to report about 116,000 new jobless claims, the institute’s analysis showed.

If the 3.4 million new jobless claims are accurate, the national unemployment rate would jump by about 2.2 percentage points in one week alone.

Dallas’ Janar Bradford said he has been trying to call the TWC phone number after registering with the website Monday. On Monday, all he could get was an automated prompt telling him to call back later because call volumes were too high. On Tuesday, all he could get was a busy signal.

Bradford, 37, lost his job as a security guard for a private contractor at The Statler Hotel in downtown Dallas after a sharp decrease in event and entertainment crowds since the beginning of March, he said.

“Any business where people are gathered is just gone,” he said. “Some of my friends work in Deep Ellum as DJs, artists and bartenders, and everything is shut down.”

Bradford’s girlfriend was also furloughed from her job working for a retail wholesaler in Dallas.

“We are going to need something to get us over the hump,” he said. “Our lives really depend on it. Without some kind of assistance, what else can you do to make it?”

In the meantime, Bradford said he is planning to turn to a staffing agency to make some money to pay for rent and food.

Texas has already suspended some of the rules for job seekers in light of the state disaster declaration and rules by state and county governments to shelter in place. Job seekers no longer have to show they are looking for work, and unemployed individuals should qualify for their first week of unemployment benefits faster.

The Texas Workforce Commission wouldn’t release data yet for last week’s unemployment claims figures, citing a U.S. Department of Labor request to wait for national figures to be released.

“This is to ensure the security of the data and to prevent anyone from benefiting from early access to the data, which can influence stock and bond markets,” said a TWC statement.

Texas Workforce Commission executive director Ed Serna is set to do a Facebook Live chat at 2:30 Wednesday to talk to people about unemployment benefits, the agency said at http://facebook.com/texasworkforcecommission. Serna is set to answer questions about how the Texas unemployment system works, who is eligible and how to sign up for benefits.

Clarification: A previous version of this story said that Janar Bradford was a security guard at The Statler hotel. Bradford was a security guard for a private contractor that did work at The Statler hotel, not for the hotel itself. The story has been updated to clarify.