Anxiety runs high as Pa. begins massive overhaul of 60-year-old unemployment computer system

[TexasTowelie]

The unemployed in Pennsylvania — pregnant people, parents unable to pay child support, nursing students, and adult children caring for disabled parents, among many others — have spent months over the last year waiting to receive benefits they are entitled to from the state Department of Labor and Industry, to little avail.

And depending whom you ask, some much-needed relief — or added suffering — is imminent.

This week, the state’s 60-year-old unemployment benefits computer system will temporarily go dark as officials roll out a massive upgrade to a new, cloud-based program. The project, nearly two decades in the making, is being hailed by the Wolf administration as the long-awaited fix to problems that have stymied state benefit claimants during the pandemic, and for years before it.

But technology experts and unemployment advocates are warning that the state’s decision to shift now, while so many Pennsylvanians are still relying on the benefits, is irresponsible. It could exacerbate existing problems as well as divert resources from helping those who are stuck in a backlog. People’s lives have already been disrupted by the Department of Labor and Industry’s missteps, advocates said, and the stakes are too high.

Read more: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/05/pa-unemployment-claims-overhaul-ibm-gsi-benefits-labor-industry/