Wisconsin is receiving over $11 million in federal funds to modernize technology used in the state’s unemployment system, which struggled with long backlogs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state Department of Workforce Development announced the grant award Monday. The agency says the money will be used in ongoing efforts to create a more modern and adaptable computer system to handle the state’s unemployment claims. Over time, the department says the project will entirely replace the “existing, antiquated mainframe” with a flexible, cloud-based system.
In a statement, DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek said the agency continues looking for ways to improve the speed and accuracy of unemployment payments, and to make the system easier to navigate.
“We look forward to investing these funds in additional efforts to overhaul our state’s decades-old unemployment insurance infrastructure and benefits delivery system,” she said.
DWD has been working on a long-term project to modernize the state’s unemployment insurance computer system since 2021, after working to find short-term fixes in 2020. Officials said the “outdated” system slowed processing unemployment claims during both the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coupled with staffing shortages, that led to major backlogs of claims at the onset of the pandemic and left some Wisconsinites waiting months without receiving a single unemployment payment. In late June 2020, DWD had yet to process 509,000 claims it received between March and June, representing 151,000 people, according to Wisconsin Watch.