Nearly 40 percent of KY workers have filed for unemployment. Many haven’t been paid.

Another 69,000 people filed for unemployment insurance last week in Kentucky, according to new figures from the U.S. Department of Labor, bringing the state’s total to nearly 743,000 since mid-March.

The new figures push Kentucky’s unemployment claims as a percentage of the labor force even higher, to more than 36 percent. As of last week, Kentucky had the highest unemployment rate in the country using that measure.

Last week’s additional claims will continue to put pressure on the state’s antiquated unemployment insurance system, which has left thousands of people without a paycheck for weeks on end.

Marjorie Sanchez, who lives in Florida but worked in Kentucky for a power company, got laid off in mid-March and filed for unemployment on March 27. Sanchez said she has been approved to receive payments, but her repeated calls to the unemployment office have been largely unfruitful.

Last Wednesday, a state worker said she’d receive her payment in three to five business days. It’s been more than a week now, and still nothing.

“It’s not fair for me waiting eight weeks,” she said. “I’ve been patiently waiting, come on.”

Sanchez described her situation as “hopeless, frustrated and desperate.” She’s missed car payments and borrowed money from her daughters to buy groceries. Her savings are gone.

“Money is tight — really, really tight,” Sanchez said.

About ten days ago, Gov. Andy Beshear said the state was focusing on paying people who applied in March but haven’t yet received their payments.

As of Tuesday, there were 17,271 people who applied for unemployment in March but haven’t had their claims processed, said JT Henderson, Executive Director of Communications for Kentucky’s Education & Workforce Development Cabinet.

That’s roughly 10 percent of the total 167,420 people who applied that month, according to the state’s figures.

In April, 429,066 people filed for unemployment and 57,479 have yet to be processed, Henderson said.

About 88 percent of people who applied in the months of March and April have had their claims processed. Many of the remaining 12 percent, or 74,750 people, have said they’re frustrated with the system’s inability to take phone calls or respond to their questions.

Janet Osborn, who lives in Frankfort, also applied in March and hasn’t received any payment. On Wednesday, Osborn got her first call back from the state after being in its “call back queue” for weeks without ever speaking with a worker.

She picked up the phone, thinking her weeks of waiting and countless phone calls had finally paid off.

“Can I help you?” the worker said.

When Osborn said she had applied in March, the employee said “hold on,” then promptly transferred Osborn back to the same automated line she normally hears. It told her she was in the state’s queue.

“I finally get a callback yesterday and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, it worked,’” she said. “And it lasted for under 10 seconds.”

“It just made it worse, really,” Osborn said.

The number of initial claims has declined in recent weeks, from a peak of 117,500 during the week ending April 4 to fewer than 70,000 last week.

Still, Kentucky’s workforce has been among the hardest hit in the country by several measures.

According to the financial analysis group WalletHub, Kentucky has had the second-biggest percentage increase in unemployment claims in the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March.

Three states — South Dakota, Utah and Nebraska — had less than 10 percent of their workforce file for unemployment since the start of the pandemic, according to an analysis last week from Fitch Ratings.

Kentucky, by comparison, is now approaching 40 percent.

Beshear has repeatedly apologized for the state’s inability to quickly process the avalanche of unemployment claims, a failure which has left tens of thousands without paychecks and without the ability to go back to work.

Frances McFall, who lives in Somerset, applied for unemployment in March and was approved. She received her first check, along with the extra $600 payment that comes with pandemic unemployment insurance, but then the payments stopped.

Since then, she’s tried every means possible to find help: calling the unemployment phone line; sending emails to unemployment officials; even sending a two-page letter to Gov. Andy Beshear in a last-ditch effort to find answers.

Every time, she’s been let down. On a recent phone call, McFall said she remained on hold for about an hour and a half before someone answered. The employee quickly transferred her to another line, where she remained on hold for many minutes.

In all, she stayed on the line for 3 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds before she was transferred to an automated system that disconnected her.

McFall said she generally supports the governor, but said she’s lost patience with his slogan “We will get through this, we will get through this together.”

“Yeah, I know you’re going to because you’ve got the money, you’ve got the safeguards, Mr. Governor,” McFall said.

Many other applicants have reported that they have been unable to speak with employees of the state to ask questions about their claims and when they can expect payments.

The state’s phone lines have been overwhelmed with calls, leaving people on hold for hours. Several applicants have told the Herald-Leader they have spent days trying to speak with an unemployment officer without success.

“I’m desperate, and I’m not used to being in that position. Admittedly, I try not to be angry, but I am angry, I am frustrated, I feel hopeless,” McFall said. “I know that sounds melodramatic, and I don’t mean to sound that way, but I am.”

Osborn also said she’s a supporter of Beshear, but that his explanations for the delays seem to blame applicants for filing incorrectly without providing additional assistance from state employees.

If Osborn did file incorrectly, she said she’d be happy to fix any problems, but without a call from the state she and others are left feeling criticized without any recourse.

“I’m very supportive of the governor and all he’s doing, and I listen every day, (but) I am getting a little frustrated,” she said.

This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 12:05 PM.