State Unemployment Offices Add Capacity

Kentucky employment and training offices are bursting at the seams with requests for jobs, unemployment checks and more.  More than 50,000 Kentuckians are receiving unemployment benefits now.  And the second of two extensions of those benefits begins next week.  State employment and training department head Russ Salsman says they’re trying to keep up with the unprecedented unemployment levels.“We’re looking at trying to increase our availability, our accessibility online.  We’ve increased our server capacity, our telephone lines, we’re throwing all of the staff resources we can," says Salsman.Salsman says he’s not yet sure how many Kentuckians will take advantage of this extension of benefits, but he says numbers for the first extension have been very high.  The extension gives the unemployed 13 additional weeks of benefits.