The Delaware Department of Labor is asking for patience as its system works to keep up with a flood of jobless claims.
The advisory comes as a report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed the state with nearly 19,000 advance jobless claims for a period ending in late March, up from 10,700 the previous week.
Unlike some states, Delaware did not report to the U.S. Labor Department industries or job categories that were hit hardest.
Neighboring Pennsylvania, which is leading the nation in the pace of layoffs, cited transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, administrative, support, waste management, and remediation services, and health care and social assistance industries as affected areas.
Click here to see the full report from the U.S. Department of Labor, which also includes Delaware data.
The Delaware Department of Labor issued the following message on its Facebook page counseling patience as it processes. unemployment claims during the coronavirus crisis as it also deals with numerous questions.
The post included more than 70 comments, many citing issues such as unanswered Emails and failures in dealing with the phone system. The department acknowledged difficulties in dealing with inquiries.
Mass layoffs have hit many workers who never had to file a claim before and do not have knowledge of the process that in recent years has moved online.
Many workers do not have online access or use mobile devices that may not be suited to certain tasks.
Some employers have set up a process of helping those laid off to navigate the process.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported a total of 6.4 million initial unemployment claims as of late March.
