lawmakers met to discuss unemployment issues

State lawmakers met in Jackson to discuss issues Mississippians are facing when filing for unemployment.

On this thursday..

It's been weeks...maybe even months and people are still having problems filing for unemployment... today state lawmakers convened in jackson to discuss issues facing mississippians.

Wtva's kayla thompson joins us with more on this discussion... "our job isn't done until we get everyone served."

The senate economic development committee met with the mississippi department of employment security to discuss issues people are facing with unemployment... "we were batting about a thousand claims a week."

The department said they did not wait long before distributing funds... "the extra 600 dollars for the people who qualified for regular unemployment and then the pandemic unemployment assistance we were able to begin paying out among the first in the nation."

But as we reported in march...some couldn't even get through the phone lines to file... ((nats)) mdes executive director jackie turner...says the department increased the number of employees in the call center to keep up... stand up administrators say it's important that once you file...to do a weekly certification... "you have to file a weekly certification to receive benefits."

Benefits payment chief jeff rhodes also addressed issues with investigations... "right now, there are 43 thousand investigations sitting in our que right now."

Although the line is long... rhodes said since the pandemic 70 percent of their decision have been made in a timely manner... the department said they will continue to work to make this process less stressful for mississippians... stand up tag for more information on mdes resources visit our website... in tupelo, kt wtva 9 news... " the one thing we all agree on is that we want to do what's best for the