A state unemployment official believes the number of claims in Wisconsin is unprecedented.
Department of Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman says more than 313,000 people have filed for unemployment benefits over the past three weeks. He says they had 116,000 new claims two weeks ago, and that’s more than twice as many as the highest weekly total during the Great Recession.
The agency has been processing up to 25,000 claims a day. The state has also distributed almost $69,000,000 since the middle of last month.
Frostman says at times, they’ve been getting $100,000 calls per hour. He wants people to file online, because they’ve been able to finalize at least 98 percent of their claims through the agency’s website.
