UPDATED: Unemployment hotlines crash in many states

This isn't good:

NY's unemployment hotline crashes
The state Department of Labor, which oversees unemployment insurance claims, received more than 10,000 phone calls an hour on a toll-free hotline Tuesday, leading to the crash. The department's online claim filing system also shut down under the volume of traffic it received.

Ohio unemployment hotline crashes
The unemployment claims systems in Ohio and other states buckled this week under an onslaught of telephone calls and Web site hits, officials said Tuesday. The telephone hot line generally receives about 7,500 calls a day, but has been getting about 80,000 each of the past two days.

Michigan unemployment hotline crashes
Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. The phone lines are clogged and some say the internet isn't much help either. At the Michigan Works office in Muskegon Heights, workers have been told the wait can take hours or even days to register for benefits. The biggest complaint seems to be the toll-free number that people have to call to register. The number is constantly busy.

Alabama hotline redirects to California
There used to be a time when people who called Linda Jahraus' home in Laguna Beach, Ca., were actually wanting to speak to her or her husband. But for the past several months, the majority of callers have been trying to reach an Alabama unemployment hot line. The call confusion has added to the frustrations of the state's unemployed and has left at least two California households hoping for a little less ringing in the new year.

Missouri Limits Jobless Benefits Hotline
Missourians seeking to extend jobless benefits will have to start doing that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. An unemployment benefits hot line run by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations will no longer be available on Tuesday and Thursday except for first-time applicants. Department spokeswoman Wanda Seeney said the shutdown will allow staff to process the increasing number of unemployment claims. Through November 2008, more than 65,000 Missourians were receiving jobless benefits.

North Carolina unemployment hotline crashes
Systems in North Carolina were shut down completely by technical glitches and heavy volume, and labor officials in several other states are reporting higher-than-normal use.

Moral of the story: HANG ON TO YOUR JOB!

UPDATE: It is too late for these folks:
--Alcoa sent out a press release right after the close announcing an 18% production cut and a 13% people cut.

--LAUSD Could Lay Off 3,000 Non-Permanent Teachers

--Locally, Chicken processor laying off 100