The state Employment Security Commission is straining under that weight of unprecedented jobless levels, says agency spokesman Clark Newsome. In answer to Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s calling into question ESC accounting for stimulus funds, Newsome acknowledges that they were delayed in getting a requested report to Eckstrom’s office. Newsome says, they turned in the paperwork today on federal money to extend unemployment benefits.
(Newsome explains ESC delay MP3 1:24)
ESC’s Newsome responds to Eckstrom’s concerns
Newsome says a 12.6 percent unemployment rate, along with additional federal paperwork, has added to an ever-increasing workload. He says the agency needs the understanding of the public as they deal with challenges the nation and state has not seen since the Great Depression.
“Our people are working hard overtime and on the weekends to make sure that claims are paid and issues like this are addressed. We need folks to understand we are doing the very best we can to try to serve them,” says Newsome.
