In hard-hit Florida, jobless workers struggle to get state aid

Record ID: 1469429

  • Title: In hard-hit Florida, jobless workers struggle to get state aid
  • Date: 14th April 2020
  • Summary: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 13, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RECENTLY UNEMPLOYED, NICK PENA, SAYING: "Finally, on March 21st, I was able to file my claim online. I'm one of the privileged few that actually has been able to submit a claim and even those of us that have a claim that's in the system, it just still reads as pending. And when I go over to try
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2020 20:37
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Florida coronavirus economy empidemic jobs pandemic unemployment
  • Location: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • City: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA006C9GRNLZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With cruise ships idled and airplanes almost empty, Florida travel adviser Nick Pena, 44, has been out of work for nearly a month, spending his days trying to secure jobless benefits from a state that has been unable to provide them.
    "What I thought, OK, this this I'll be all right, because I'm gonna be getting this assistance," Pena said. "And the reality is that this assistance is nowhere in my immediate future in any way."
    Thrown out of work by a coronavirus pandemic that has killed at least 25,000 Americans, workers across the country have encountered downed web sites and busy phone lines as they try to secure benefits that will help them pay for groceries and other essentials.
    The problem has been especially acute in tourism-dependent Florida, where hundreds of thousands of idled workers have run up against a glitch-ridden system that provides some of the lowest payments in the United States -- when it functions properly.
    Pena was able to file a claim more than three weeks ago, but has not been able to get into the system since. Others have been unable to file a claim at all.
    Critics say the failure is intentional.
    Democratic state Representative Geraldine Thompson said the system is designed not to work, and that hundreds of constituents in her Orlando district have told her they have been unable to file claims.
    Facing widespread outrage, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has taken steps to bolster the system but has not said when it will be operating properly.
    Some states, like Minnesota and Utah, say they have kept up with the crush of applications and several say they are distributing additional federal aid of $600 per week.
    Florida has managed to answer only 2% of incoming phone calls, according to state records obtained by local media.
    Pena says he has set his alarm for the middle of the night to try to access the website, which is otherwise inaccessible.
    The 553,000 jobless claims Florida has recorded over the past three weeks likely amount to a fraction of those trying to get in to the system, according to Thompson and other officials.
    Neighboring Georgia, where the workforce is half as large, processed 644,000 claims over the same period.
    The state is struggling to process those claims.
    The Department of Economic Opportunity said last week that would add hundreds of workers to tackle a backlog of 560,000 applications.
    Meanwhile, job losses continue. Disney World will furlough 43,000 employees on Sunday, adding to the list of applicants.
    A spokeswoman for the state Department of Economic Opportunity did not answer questions submitted by Reuters.
    The state set up a new web site and created a paper form for people like Sabino Jarquin, 52, who lost his restaurant job at Miami International Airport over a month ago.
    That has created its own problems. State officials say paper forms will take longer to process, and local media have reported lines of hundreds of people at sites where the forms are being distributed.
    Florida's problems date back to 2013, when a new computer system locked out thousands of recipients and delayed payments by weeks.
    Auditors last year found many problems had not been fixed.
    Then-Governor Rick Scott also scaled back benefits.
    Florida's maximum weekly payment of $275 is among the lowest in the nation, and benefits expire after 12 weeks - less than half the nationwide norm.
    Only 11% of jobless workers in Florida received benefits last year. Massachusetts and New Jersey, by contrast, provided aid to more than half their unemployed before the crisis hit.
    Pena says he is re-assessing his support for Republicans like Scott and DeSantis, who he says have not shown empathy for workers like him.
    "I put my trust into a party, and into an administration that I now realize is slapping me in the face, doesn't have my best interest in mind," Pena said "So, we'll be voting differently in the future. Absolutely."
    Production: Marco Bello, Aleksandra Michalska)
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