While some lawmakers still feel “flooded” by inquiries about help with benefits, the state secretary of labor says the average call wait times for unemployment assistance have dropped since last January from more than two hours to 11 minutes.
Unemployment has been rising in Massachusetts, with recent data showing the state’s jobless rate at 4.8% in December, up from 4.1% in December 2024. The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that the country’s unemployment rate increased to 4.4% in February, up from 4.3% in January. Total nonfarm payroll employment also dropped by 92,000 jobs last month, according to the federal government.
Sen. Jacob Oliveira said that while wait times have gone down and there are fewer calls to his office about unemployment, “there’s still a level of frustration that exists with folks when it comes to the administering of the DUA program.” Rep. Sally Kerans said she feels “as though we are flooded with unemployment cases.” And Rep. Russell Holmes referred to emails he gets from constituents who have waited weeks for assistance.
The DUA is working to continue to reduce wait times, Labor Secretary Lauren Jones said, and in January began launching a seasonal hiring effort. As of March 1, DUA had hired 94 of an anticipated 150 new employees in a variety of roles to help, Jones added.
Customer experience was additionally “exasperated” last year as the department carried over unresolved claims from its old system to a modernized one, Jones said. She said DUA has also seen a $17 million cut in its federal base grant between federal fiscal year 2023 and fiscal 2026 while cost of living adjustments have only increased.
And when the DUA launched its modernization project, the U.S. Department of Labor in spring 2025 cut departments nationwide, “further hindering operations,” Jones said.
“In the summer and fall, approximately 53% of claims were processed within 30 days. Today, nearly 76% of claims are processed within 30 days,” Jones told lawmakers Monday at a budget hearing on Cape Cod. “In October, 48% of eligible claims were paid within 35 days. In January of 2026, nearly 85% of claims were paid within 35 days. That’s nearly a 40% improvement.”
The remaining people awaiting aid could have a hearing and are now waiting on the process, or still have an open adjudication item, Jones said. An August pilot program adjusted call center operations to Monday through Thursday, with Fridays “fully dedicated to adjudication and administrative help with that turnaround.”
“As you can imagine, with unemployment, there’s a revolving door,” Jones said. And while there will always be open work items, she added, the backlog of 80,000 open work items is now in the low 30,000s.
“I think some of the things that we’ve worked on, some of what your office has worked on, has been terrific, but our offices continue to get inundated with constituents, and it spikes at certain times during the year,” Oliveira said. “What can we do at the state level, absent of funding, absent of infusing, what can we learn from other states that they’re doing, that gets money out the door in a much more efficient manner for people who need it most?”
Jones said the department is looking at how to use its existing funds more creatively and efficiently to improve customer service, and that the seasonal staff will aid with the ebbs and flows of need.
“But it’s an open conversation, one that I’m happy to have with you as we look under the hood at all possible resources and get creative so that we are standing up a stronger unemployment insurance system, that customer experience, I think we all want to make sure individuals interface with and build on a now more modernized system to do so,” Jones said.
DUA administers the state’s unemployment insurance system, including processing unemployment compensation claims, payment resolution, collecting unemployment contributions, and maintaining the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The fund pays benefit payments to claimants from a fee assessed and collected by employers.
The UI system has faced scrutiny over the past year, after it was announced that Massachusetts needs to pay the federal government $2.1 billion over the next decade due to the Baker administration’s mistaken use of federal pandemic funds to cover unemployment benefits.
“Obviously, the solvency of the unemployment trust fund is a matter of great concern to the administration, and I know the Legislature, and it’s something we’re actively working with our stakeholders and business partners on,” Undersecretary of Labor Josh Cutler said on Monday.
Ella Adams is a reporter for the State House News Service and State Affairs Massachusetts. Reach her at ella.adams@statehousenews.com.
