$18M Later, New Jersey’s Unemployment System Still Subpar, Some Say

NEW JERSEY – The State of New Jersey’s efforts to modernize its unemployment system are far from enough, some state Republican and Democrat lawmakers told Patch.

The comments came after State Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo’s testimony to the State Assembly Budget Committee earlier this month, a 4-hour hearing filled with explanations and frustrations regarding New Jersey’s unemployment system.

How Did We Get Here?

As the spring of 2020 gave way to summer and then autumn, it may have seemed the only thing rising faster in New Jersey than the number of COVID-19 cases was the number of those unemployed in the Garden State.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in February 2020. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As more and more businesses shut down, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 15.3 percent in April of 2020.

With so many people filing, and state unemployment offices closed to in-person visits, long waits for benefits and answers to questions became quite common.

One woman from Ocean County told Patch during the pandemic that she was trying, at one point, 20 to 30 times a day to get help on the phone for her unemployment claim without luck.

Efforts State Has Made Since COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

New Jersey’s unemployment rate this past March was 4.2 percent, according to Asaro-Angelo.

That improvement from the April 2020 rate is in large part due to the approximately $18 million that has been allocated from the state’s federal pandemic-relief- and state coffers to improve how unemployment benefits are distributed and how fast such benefits are distributed in the Garden State, Asaro-Angelo said during his testimony.

Those efforts have not stopped, he added, as evidenced by Gov. Murphy’s request of $15 million more in funding during his budget address for the 2023 fiscal year.

Some specific initiatives the previous funding went to or future funding will go to include, according to Asaro-Angelo:

• analyzing communications to ensure language is easy to understand;
• using real-time data analytics using the cloud, which will equate to faster service;
• ensuring applications are mobile-friendly and meet accessibility design standards for those with disabilities, such as deafness;
• integrating the unemployment system into and streamlining the Temporary Disability and Family Leave programs
• lowering the risk of triggering agent intervention that can length the claim process;
• providing additional self-service features when the opportunity presents itself; and
• increasing the number of Unemployment Insurance Division employees will soon be 180% higher, than it was at the start of the pandemic, from about 500 workers to almost 1,400 workers.

“By the end of the year, we expect to have a whole new interface to work with, giving our agents easier access to information – meaning faster, more efficient service for claimants,” Asaro-Angelo said during his testimony. “We’ve used it to contract resources to accelerate tech upgrades to benefit workers, employers, and our staff. We’re also working toward real-time data analytics using the cloud, which will equate to faster service.”

‘Unemployment System Could Be In A Much Better State’

The unemployment system is not as improved as Asaro-Angelo made it seem, State Sen. Edward Durr, a Republican lawmaker from Gloucester County, told Patch a few days after the Commissioner’s testimony.

For instance, the long wait times for some to receive their unemployment benefits still occur, according to Durr.

"The Department of Labor has been completely unresponsive to many desperate filers for months at a time, and they continue to ignore the repeated calls and emails from legislators who are trying to help their constituents. Even now that the number of claims is dropping, their responsiveness has not improved,” Durr said.

Long waits for answers to minor unemployment issues are also still a frequent occurrence, he added.

"After constituents told us they were bounced back and forth between broken online systems and phone agents who couldn't solve seemingly simple issues with claims, we called for unemployment agency offices to reopen to provide walk-in help,” Durr said. “For 2 years, the agency resisted offering in-person assistance, and even now it's extremely limited.”

"The simple fact is that our unemployment system could be in a much better state than it is at present,” he said.

Even some Democrats, who will often tow the party line on various issues, said the unemployment system is far from fixed.

“The delays that people faced then, and continue to face now, are unacceptable,” State Senator Troy Singleton, a Democrat from Burlington County who is also the Majority Whip, told Patch.

Singleton said was among those who co-sponsored legislation earlier this year that sought to re-open state unemployment offices. He also said he has “introduced legislation that would allocate $50 million to the NJ Department of Labor [and workforce development] to improve the response and perform an audit review of the Division of Unemployment.”

Assembly Member Louis D. Greenwald, who is from Camden County and also Assembly Majority Leader, told Patch that maintaining what was the status quo during the pandemic moving forward is “simply unacceptable.”

“During most of the pandemic, Legislative District offices had to become de facto unemployment centers and we were often unable to get a response,” he said.

“I echo the frustrations of my colleagues on the Assembly Budget Committee. There needs to be more staff dedicated to answering phones, meeting with claimants and resolving the unemployment issues of residents,” Greenwald continued.

Michael Egenton, the chief lobbyist for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce told Patch it “recognizes how important it is to upgrade the antiquated computer system being used by the various state agencies,” including the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

To underscore that importance, he noted how the chamber attended committee hearings this week in support of two bills – the first, Senate Bill 2357, would “enforce the timely payment of unemployment compensation benefits” and the second, Senate Bill 2396, would “provide oversight and improvement of the administration of unemployment compensation.”

Gov. Murphy’s Office could not be reached for a response on either the assembly member, the state senators’ or the chamber’s comments.

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