LINCOLN- Getting unemployment benefits in Nebraska already was a slow process, with it taking up to three weeks or more to be paid after filing a claim. But with the unprecedented economic shock over the past month, the system has been overloaded.

About 83,000 people in the state have filed unemployment claims in the past four weeks — the equivalent of two years' worth of claims in Nebraska. Nearly 15,000 of those claims have come from Lancaster County residents.

State Labor Commissioner John Albin said last week that his staff of adjudicators — the people who process unemployment claims — has grown from about 30 to 200 in the past few weeks.Still, he said his office's goal now is to get 75% of claims processed within four weeks. That's down from a standard goal of 90% in three weeks.

Even though the state has waived the normal one-week waiting period to file a claim, it still means at least one out of every four unemployed people may be waiting a month or more to get a check.

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