When millions of Americans lost their jobs and filed unemployment claims at the start of the pandemic, many people experienced difficulties navigating the system and long wait times.
The state has been busy changing the online system, in efforts to make it easier for people to file their claims as well as stop those that are fraudulent.
Loree Levy with the California Employment Development Department told KCBS Radio that "virtually every state in the nation is experiencing fraudulent activity on a scale we have just simply never seen before."
The state has been addressing these issues by implementing new fraud prevention technology and tools such as the new identity verification system for those logging in to get benefits, and cross-matching information in the system with nationwide databases.
Levy said that from March 2020 through the beginning of this year the department prevented up to $60 billion in payments to fraudulent claims by way of new security protections and fraud screening measures.
Levy noted that the department is also working to make the long wait times much shorter by hiring more people and finding new ways to help solve filing issues.
"We are finding ways to do things faster and better step by step," said Levy.
In addition to a newly streamlined website, the department has hired hundreds more people to man the phone lines.
Levy said that this week, the average wait time for someone calling the department for help with their claim is about 40 minutes with over 3,400 agents on the lines taking calls.
She said the department is still trying to troubleshoot and find new ways to reach people who don't open messages regarding their account.
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