Alabama Labor Department Discontinues In-Person Unemployment Assistance
A new phone appointment system debuts Jan. 4 for residents in need of unemployment assistance. The Alabama Department of Labor announced Wednesday it will no longer offer in-person appointments due to concerns around COVID-19.
Beginning Jan. 3, those wishing to file claims can call 1-800-361-4524 after 5 p.m. until midnight Sundays through Thursdays to schedule a call back for the next day. The state employment agency will schedule 600 callbacks per day, with the exception of holidays and weekends.
The department encourages people who are unable to schedule an appointment one day to call back the next day after 5 p.m.
“This new callback system will allow us to serve more claimants per day than we’ve been able to previously,” Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “We’ve been working nonstop to improve our services to unemployed Alabamians and this system will hopefully accomplish that.”
One callback appointment will be allowed per day. Those callbacks will come from a Montgomery phone number and will be scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Claimants should keep their phones near them the entire day of their scheduled callback,” a labor department news release said.
For weeks this past summer, long unemployment lines in Montgomery prompted officials to offer assistance by appointment only. The agency was flooded with requests and had been working through a backlog since the early months of the pandemic.
The final days for in-person service at the Crump Senior Center in Montgomery will be Dec. 28 and 29. The labor department said appointments for those days will be available on the agency’s website beginning Friday, December 25 at 5 p.m.
Alabama had 7,543 initial unemployment claims filed last week, a slight drop from the previous week. The most sought-after employees in November, according to the labor department, were retail salespeople, registered nurses, sales representatives, customer service representatives, and food service workers.
UAB Health System, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Lowe’s took the largest share of job postings last month.
When a horse whinnies, there’s more than meets the ear
A new study finds that horse whinnies are made of both a high and a low frequency, generated by different parts of the vocal tract. The two-tone sound may help horses convey more complex information.
Trump’s many tariff tools mean consumer prices won’t go down, analysts say
The Supreme Court struck down President Trump's signature tariffs. But the president has other tariff tools, and consumers shouldn't expect cheaper prices anytime soon, economists say.
Hundreds of American nurses choose Canada over the U.S. under Trump
More than 1,000 American nurses have successfully applied for licensure in British Columbia since April, a massive increase over prior years.
Tax credits for solar panels are available, but the catch is you can’t own them
Rooftop solar installers are steering customers toward leases instead of purchases. Federal tax credits for purchased systems have ended but are still available for leased ones.
5 takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address
President Trump hit familiar notes on immigration and culture in his speech Tuesday night, but he largely underplayed the economic problems that voters say they are most concerned about.
China restricts exports to 40 Japanese entities with ties to military
China on Tuesday restricted exports to 40 Japanese entities it says are contributing to Japan's "remilitarization," in the latest escalation of tensions with Tokyo.
