Mucarsel-Powell Slams Florida's Failing Unemployment System

Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) has released results of a week-long survey that was conducted by her office that asked South Floridians to provide details of their experiences when applying for benefits through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s unemployment insurance system.

The Florida lawmaker commented on the results, saying that the results “confirmed what we already knew: Florida’s unemployment system is a nightmare.”

She detailed that “over a million Floridians have filed for unemployment since the onset of the pandemic and the majority are still not seeing benefits or getting answers.” As well, “many cannot so much as fill out a form because the website remains defective.”

Mucarsel-Powell asserted that “it has been two months, and time is up,” adding that “Florida’s leaders must be held accountable to take matter into their hands before Floridians who have lost their jobs by no fault of their own go hungry.”

In turn, she asserted that “it is the responsibility of the federal government to conduct necessary oversight and provide support when states can’t do the job themselves.”

Finally, she concluded by voicing her support for The Heroes Act, saying that it “enhances unemployment benefits and supports UI systems across the country.” The legislation is another COVID-19 relief package that aims to help American citizens as the United States looks to reopen its economy.

In the survey, nearly 90 percent of respondents argued that they had a “very negative” experience regarding the UI application process, while only 1 percent said that there experience was either “very positive” or “somewhat positive.” Moreover, more than 90 percent of those surveyed said that they encountered crashes in the online portal, freezing and issues with loading during the application process. In contrast, only 1.7 percent of those surveyed said that they encountered no problems when maneuvering through the application process.