Unemployment insurance is supposed to be emergency aid. If there’s an issue with someone’s claim, it’s supposed to get figured out quickly.
But these days, tens of thousands of Virginians can’t get answers. They aren’t getting unemployment. Instead, they applied and now they’re waiting. Often for months. If they can get any info at all, they are told their cases will be processed—someday.
Virginia is slower than every other state in the U.S., and slower than D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, in processing issues on unemployment claims. In the last three months of 2020, less than 5% of “nonmonetary” issues (like how someone’s job ended) were resolved by Virginia within 21 days. Some Virginia workers who lost their jobs in March, April, or May 2020 are still waiting, even now.