Aaron has gotten a busy signal from the Pennsylvania unemployment office call center for a month. He started filing his claim online, which was fine, until he started getting automated emails saying there were problems with the online system, and instructed him to call the toll-free call center number. That’s right, the one that’s a constant busy signal. So, he got in touch with his local state representative, and got results!

“I called my local state representative for help! He was plenty helpful and understood my plight,” writes Aaron. “4 hours later, the same day, someone from the unemployment office called me and took care of my issue in 5 min. “

Nice one! Local state representatives, for the win. You can find your local state representative by going to Congress.org and entering your zipcode in the box on the top right.

It’s great that there’s a way to push the unemployment office to act, but note how it involves additional and non-obvious steps that require some savy, and are made easier by having a computer and online access…more obstacles between the truly needy and the help they need.

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