For the first time that many employees at the Department of Workforce Solutions can remember, there are more people on duty some days than phone calls coming in.

The change comes after the department added more phone lines, started a toll-free number for its services, and began to improve its website.

"We have our staff saying 'We've never been here when we have more people than calls coming in,' " Secretary Ken Ortiz said in an interview last week.

The changes also come after public and legislative outcry over long wait times and repeated busy signals for people seeking state help, and after the state saw its number of unemployed people rise dramatically.

To assess how the department's changes are working, The New Mexican this month sought updates on several key data reported in a story published in January 2009.

That story looked at figures from the first full business week in January, during which people seeking assistance or information about assistance made 408,000 calls, including redials.

By the first week in January of this year, the number had dipped to 301,191. And by the week of June 6 — after the department made the key changes — 147,710 calls, including redials, were made.

The average wait time on the phone dropped from 33 minutes in 2009 to 22 minutes in January 2010 to 11 minutes in June of this year, according to information provided by the department.

At the same time, the department saw the number of people who used the Internet to get certified for benefits each week rise from 14,932 in the January 2009 week to 35,967 in the June week of this year.

The number of unemployment insurance payments made by the department also has risen, up from 24,620 in the January 2009 week to 45,886 in the June 2010 week.

Ortiz credits the increase in phone lines — from 184 to 999 — in part with the shorter wait times. He also said automating many simple tasks also has diminished waits.

"What that tells me is the phone system is working great," he said.

He also said that once people realized it is getting easier to do business with the department over the Internet, many are choosing that option.

Still, Ortiz said, there is work to be done at the agency.

"By no means I am sitting here saying we fixed it all, but we've made substantial progress and I look forward to more progress to providing the customer service that customers expect," he said.

Other recent changes at the department include more automated features for people calling about the status of a check, for example, and the hiring of additional administrative law judges and adjudicators. Claimants also get voicemails from the state with information about their cases.

To help make those changes, the department got $39 million in federal stimulus money.

As for all those employees who for so long were swamped helping claimants, they are refocusing their efforts on helping people get the training they need to land and keep new jobs, Ortiz said.

Those employees are least busy on Fridays and busiest on Mondays, he said, advising claimants to try and access the unemployment system on Thursdays and Fridays.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.