WISCONSIN— Gov. Tony Evers asked for the secretary of the Department of Workforce Development to resign, Friday, Sept. 18. Evers confirmed that DWD secretary Caleb Frostman turned in his resignation and it is effective immediately. 

Since the onset of the pandemic, there's been a constant backlog of unemployment claims. 

DWD says that they received 6,546,554 weekly claims between March 15 and Sept. 12. 10.9 percent are being processed and 89.1 percent have been resolved. 

That means 713,508 claims are awaiting wage verification or adjudication, among other statuses. 5,833,046 have either been officially paid or denied. 

“People across our state are struggling to make ends meet, and it is unacceptable that Wisconsinites continue to wait for the support they need during these challenging times,” says Gov. Evers. “It is clear that our unemployment system has faced historic levels of claims these past few months, hindered in part by antiquated technology we inherited, and processes designed by Republicans to make it harder for folks to get these benefits.”

Until a new secretary is appointed, Amy Pechacek will temporarily step into the role. Pechacek is the secretary for the Department of Corrections. 

 "I am confident Deputy Secretary Pechacek has the leadership and skillsets we need to begin to identify solutions to these issues and to get to work making sure folks across our state can get the resources they need. I appreciate Secretary Frostman’s service to our state and wish him well in his future endeavors," Gov. Evers says.

Gov. Evers has provided additional staffing to DWD since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Currently, there are 1,500 people working for the Unemployment Insurance Division. That includes 130 employees who were reassigned to the department. Pre-pandemic, there were 600 people working for UID.

“We have continued to add additional state resources to support the DWD, but it is clear that we must have change if we are going to address these problems to get folks their benefits faster," Gov. Evers says.

For more information on unemployment services, click here.