Backlogs computer woes and marathon call waits at the Employment Department: Beat Check podcast

Tens of thousands of unemployed Oregonians are spending a lot of time on their phones right now.

But this isn't mindless scrolling. These Oregonians are waiting, and waiting, and waiting -- on hold trying to get through to the state Employment Department.

On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, reporter Mike Rogoway outlines the many woes facing the department.

Those issues culminated in the busiest few days in the department's recent history – two legislative hearings, one without questions from lawmakers, Sen. Ron Wyden calling for director Kay Erickson's firing and Gov. Kate Brown eventually asking for Erickson's resignation Sunday.

I spoke with Mike twice in the span of a few days about this crisis, but much of this episode was recorded before Erickson was fired.

The issues are still the same -- Rogoway details the persistent woes at the department, including those absurdly long waiting times, the incredible backlog in payments, and – until just a few days ago – what's essentially been silence from Brown and state employment department leaders.

We talked about this crisis, how the Great Recession played into these failures and what other states are doing differently.

We spoke on Saturday afternoon, moments after Erickson testified before a state legislative committee for the second time in the span of a few days, and immediately after Wyden called for her firing.

The second part of the show comes from a Thursday interview.

Here's the full episode:

-- Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-4026; @andrewtheen

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