To clarify the job search requirements since there seems to be some confusion - it's 3 work search activities per week, not necessarily 3 job applications. This can include networking, attending job fairs, skills training, etc. You do need to keep records including employer name, date, method of contact, and position applied for. Regarding suitable work, in the first 10 weeks you can generally refuse work paying less than 80% of your previous wage, after that the standards become more flexible.

honestly the whole thing is a nightmare. took me 6 weeks just to get my first payment and that was with zero issues on my claim. good luck OP

Yeah my cousin works at one of the NYS Department of Labor offices and she says they're constantly backlogged. Even when unemployment rates look good on paper there's still tons of people cycling through the system - seasonal workers, people between jobs, folks dealing with reduced hours. The numbers you see publicly are just a snapshot.

If you want more detailed breakdowns, the NYS Department of Labor also publishes their Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund reports quarterly which show total benefit payments and recipient counts by region. You can find these buried in their "Data & Statistics" section. The winter months typically see the highest claims due to construction and hospitality layoffs. What's frustrating is they don't publish real-time adjudication queue numbers, so there's no way to know if you're number 100 or 10,000 in line for review.

The unemployment website says average wait time is 12 minutes LMAOOOOO what a joke. I've never waited less than an hour and that's IF I can even get in the queue. Who comes up with these fake stats?

I feel your pain - went through this exact nightmare last year. After 6 weeks of getting nowhere with the regular phone line, I finally got connected using a callback service called Claimyr. They handle all the calling and waiting for you, then connect you when they reach an actual human. Cost me like $20 but saved literally weeks of my life sitting on hold. Got my whole claim sorted in one 15-minute call once I had an agent. The NY system is completely broken - they know people will give up if it's hard enough. Don't let them win, your benefits are money YOU paid into the system!

update us if u fix it! i bet its the address thing

UPDATE: I got it fixed!!! It WAS the address mismatch between my license and unemployment account. I contacted ID.me support directly like @HelpfulCareerPro suggested and they told me exactly what was wrong. Had to upload additional proof of address (utility bill) but finally got verified! Already completed my recertification for this week. Thank you everyone for your help!!!

I had trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor when I had questions about a similar situation. If you need to speak with someone directly about your specific circumstances, I found claimyr.com really helpful. They have a service that connects you with actual agents and there's a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that explains how it works. Sometimes these situations have nuances that only an agent can clarify.

The whole system is frustrating when you're in a bind like this. Have you considered talking to your employer about whether they could treat this as a temporary layoff instead of FMLA? Some companies are flexible if they understand your financial situation.