New York addressing unemployment glitches

New York state is rebooting the system it uses to file unemployment claims to better handle the high call volume.

Trying to apply for unemployment through the state labor department, you're far from alone.

The number of people who've done so since march 9th is quickly approaching one million.

During his daily coronavirus briefing today, governor andrew cuomo talked about a major reboot, happening at this hour, that should make the process much easier to navigate.

Newschannel 2's joleen ferris is live outside the state office building with more.

Joleen?

They hired more people, are training them in 3 days as opposed to six weeks, they consulted with google, and they hope all this will make it easier to apply for unemployment as soon as tonight.

The state department of labor is making sweeping changes to the current unemployment application system that's been a source of anxiety and frustration for so many .

None .

None 16:10 "today between 5 and 7 pm, the system is going to go down to reboot.

7:00 the new application goes online.

It's streamlined, there are fewer questions and one you get to the end of that, if you succesfully fill it out, it's going to say 'you're finished with the application process'.

And if, for some reason, you're unclear on a portion and have to leave a question blank, it will not result in you calling an 800 number that gets you nothing but aggravation 16:27 "if there's any information that's left blank, it's going to say 'don't call us' we'll call you within 72 hours" 16:32 frustrated applicants we spoke with early yesterday told us today they did receive callbacks last night.

And the governor during his daily coronavirus briefing today said the clock doesn't start ticking when you finally get through to a living, breathing person at the department of labor; it starts ticking when you lost your job 15:112 "whenever you sign up, your benefis are going to be retroactive.

You will not have received a check.

I get that and it's causing anxiety.

But it's nost like you're not gonna get the same benefit because you didn't get through on monday and you didn't get through til thursday" > the white house is assembling