One North Carolina woman told WFMY News 2 she spent 9 hours on hold with the Division of Employment Security, to get a problem sorted out with her unemployment.
Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians are now in a position they didn't think they'd be: without a steady income, and filing for unemployment insurance.
Two weeks ago, an executive order from Governor Roy Cooper loosened some of the restrictions for filing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, since that order went into effect more than 300,000 people have filed unemployment benefit claims in just two weeks. Governor Cooper says, normally, the Division of Employment Security gets 3,000 claims in a week.
"We want you to know that we care about your claim," the Governor said in a news conference Tuesday.
"People are working diligently to handle the onslaught of claims that they’ve really never seen before, to make sure people get paid as promptly as possible," said Gov. Cooper.