Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT unemployment site has been answering only 2 percent of the thousands of calls it’s received, with wait times averaging more than six hours.

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TALLAHASSEE — With the shock of the coronavirus shutdowns rattling daily across the economy, Florida was in an unusual spot last week, being among 17 states where unemployment claims actually declined.

But few see that as good news.

“I think it is a reflection that the state’s online filing system has had so many problems that people are now turning to paper applications that haven’t been counted yet. The numbers just haven’t caught up,” said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project.

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Indeed, according to contracts the state’s Department of Employment Opportunity recently signed with three call center companies, the agency has been answering only 2 percent of the thousands of calls it’s received, with wait times averaging more than six hours.

For the week ending April 4, Florida received 169,831 applications for state benefits, capped at $275 per week, among the lowest in the nation.

That was down from the week ending March 28, when 226,999 applications flowed into the Department of Economic Opportunity right after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order suspending on-premise food and alcohol consumption in restaurants — eliminating thousands of Florida jobs.

But Friday, DeSantis said claims shot up again this week, with 225,755 new applications filed.

Included in Friday’s numbers, DeSantis said, are 12,000 paper applications, recently introduced by the Department of Economic Opportunity. There also is a new mobile application made available this week by the department that essentially is a digital version of the paper application.

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Hundreds of state workers have been deployed to take these applications and enter them into the state’s online, glitch-ridden CONNECT system, plagued by problems since it was introduced in 2013.

“This is a shock like we’ve never seen before,” DeSantis said of the job losses, which have overloaded the unemployment compensation systems in many states. “We’re shifting as many resources as we can to be able to meet this real crushing demand.”

But Florida’s CONNECT is worse than many, Evermore said.

“A system that was set up to keep as many people as possible from filing unemployment claims is going to do a lot worse than those in states with systems designed to help people claim benefits,” she said.

Only 11% of unemployed Floridians received benefits before the coronavirus paralyzed the economy, one of the lowest recipient rates in the nation, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

The massive job losses caused by the coronavirus shutdowns have exposed CONNECT failures cited for years by state auditors, but which the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature, DeSantis and his predecessor who introduced the system, now-U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, did nothing to correct.

After saying little about Floridians thrown out of work during the first two weeks of the mounting unemployment crisis, DeSantis now is scrambling. The Department of Economic Opportunity has approved three contracts worth as much as $109 million with call centers to supplement CONNECT, which itself cost $77 million to install seven years ago.

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Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters, who doubles as Florida’s Republican Party chair, called the CONNECT system contract “a complete boondoggle.”

But even with the additional millions spent, the additional call-takers and paper applications, the thousands of Floridians thrust into the unemployment system say they are experiencing little improvement.

“Nothing has changed for me,” said Stacey Kline, a 46-year-old restaurant worker in Cape Coral, who managed to file a jobless claim shortly after her restaurant closed March 20, but whose status remains “pending.”

Kline said she has not been able to get anyone from the Department of Economic Opportunity to help.

More than 6.6 million people nationwide filed for unemployment last week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. That was down slightly from the previous week, with Florida joining such states as New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in reporting a lower level of claims than the week before.

All told, 16 million people have lost jobs in the past three weeks. And those seeking benefits in many states have complained about being unable to file claims even though officials, just like DeSantis, have tried to ramp up staffing.

In Florida, after the initial shock of state-ordered closures cost jobs, the prolonged shutdown is now forcing companies that managed to retain staff to begin furloughing employees — keeping workers on health benefits, but without weekly pay. Walt Disney World is among the latest companies to announce furloughs of some employees beginning April 19.

That will undoubtedly force more out-of-work Floridians onto the CONNECT system. Also boosting traffic will be the state’s modest maximum benefit soon being supplemented by $600 weekly payments under the $2 trillion federal relief package.

“People need help now, but they’re still waiting,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who said most of her day is spent helping people navigate the CONNECT system. “It’s been weeks now, and for most, there’s still nothing from the state or the federal government.”