Font ResizeALBUQUERQUE - After nearly a month of cutting, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez on Tuesday said she would add 20 jobs to the state call center that helps unemployed people with benefit claims.
The cost of the extra workers is estimated at $500,000, according to a spokesman for the governor. The salaries of these state employees would be paid by the federal government.
Martinez blamed her predecessor, Democrat Bill Richardson, for long wait times and poor service at the Unemployment Insurance Call Center, part of the state Department of Workforce Solutions. She said Richardson in November froze hiring at the center in Albuquerque, even though positions there are federally funded and money was available.
Martinez also extended the hours of the center, saying it would be staffed for six hours on Saturday, Feb. 5 as a trial, and that the state Department of Workforce Solutions website would be improved to make it more helpful to those with claims.
About 51,000 calls per week were made to the center during the first three weeks of January, Martinez said. She said she spent part of last week evaluating its operations and then ordered hiring more people to improve service and reduce waiting time on the phone.
"These ongoing problems have plagued the department for years, thanks to a hiring freeze on federally funded positions implemented by the previous administration," Martinez said.
But a review of the department's operations showed that Richardson in January 2009 made
He said a glut of unemployed people complained of calling the center more than a hundred times before getting through. So, Richardson extended the call center's hours, re-assigned 10 Workforce Solutions employees to bolster telephone service and temporarily transferred 16 workers from other state departments to the center.
In high-tech times, Richardson even allowed unemployed people to file benefit claims on paper, a courtesy to those without a computer and to help reduce waiting time on the phone. More than 300 people filed on paper in two weeks after he relaxed the filing regulations.
Like Richardson, Martinez has reassigned Workforce Solutions employees to take calls.
What may be different is that she ordered the hiring of new customer service representatives, who are in "fast-track" training.
The number of workers answering calls has increased from 30 to 41 in a week. Another 15 staff members are about to join the call center, Martinez said. By her count, the number of representatives helping unemployed people will nearly double during this, the peak season for claims.
Not all the jobs are full time. She did not provide a breakdown of permanent, "term" and temporary positions. Temporary workers do not receive benefits, but the others do.
Those who land the call-center positions to help unemployed people make about $12 an hour, said Celina Bussey, secretary-designee of the Department of Workforce Solutions.
Bussey said the department website is filled with information and should cut down on the need for telephone calls if the navigation system is improved.
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/newmexico.
