Over six days last week, the New York State Department of Labor's phone system received 8.2 million calls. The system typically handles 50,000 calls.
During the same period, the state's online filing system received 3.4 million visits. Typically, the system gets 350,000 visits.

But these are not typical days, as a pandemic has led to an economic shutdown and tens of thousands of people unemployment or on furlough without pay.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday apologized to New Yorkers who have not been able to get through to file for unemployment and promised the state would approve.

Here's what the state Department of Labor is doing to improve access:

• Officials want New Yorkers who are filing to call or visit the website on staggered days. People with last names beginning with A-F file on Monday, G-N on Tuesday, and O-Z on Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be left for people who miss their days.
• The Department of Labor is also trying to streamline its claims process and automating portions of it so there are less reasons someone would have to call the hotline.
• Personnel capacity is also increasing. There are 700 staff at the Department of Labor's unemployment insurance hotline, and hundreds of additional staff are being re-assigned from within the department, borrowed from other agencies and newly hired to help with the surge of filings.
• The call center's hours are being expanded to provide shrive on Saturdays. Hours to call on Monday through Thursday run from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Fridays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Department of Labor is also processing applications on Sundays.
• An additional 20 servers have been added to support website capacity.

Bottomline, officials say, is this: Even if your filing is delayed, you will still get the benefit you are entitled