Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Google has partnered with the state of New York to develop an unemployment system online. It is on the backdrop of the state’s labor department’s unemployment insurance filing system struggles to handle unprecedented volumes because of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. Google expects to extend this service to other states as well.
Web traffic increases by 1,600%
The web traffic to the New York State Labor Department’s unemployment insurance filing system has increased by 1,600% since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The department also witnessed a significant increase in phone calls by 16,000% during this period.
The labor department’s website crashed in Mid-March 2020 because over 450,000 people in New York tried to submit an application for unemployment benefits in the last three weeks. Also, the state recorded new deaths of more than 800 on Thursday.
Cloud infrastructure to support online unemployment system
Google’s cloud infrastructure will support the online unemployment system, which is online Friday morning. Its new website can handle several hundred requests and allows the users to save incomplete applications. They can resume the application process later and submit for unemployment benefits. The users can access this website on laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Google is also helping the state in numerous areas using its technical resources. It has offered several websites for the officials to provide information on coronavirus, social distance data worldwide and home education. Meanwhile, the state of New York is also discussing with other companies like Deloitte and Verizon to handle an increase in traffic for unemployment claims online.
Verily, an affiliate company of Google is partnered with the state of California and the health officials to develop a website to facilitate the screening of COVID-19.
Introduces a new search feature for unemployment resources links
Google has introduced an innovative search feature, which provides US federal unemployment resources links. According to a communication from Google, the company is also working several states to provide help in unemployment insurance processing. During this shut down of nonessential businesses in the US to prevent the spread of coronavirus, over 10 million people in the US have applied for unemployment benefits.
