More New Mexicans were unemployed in August than in any other month this year, newly released figures show.

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August was 7.5 percent, up from 7 percent in July and 5.1 percent in January. Nationally, the rate was 9.7 percent in August.

But for those without a job and forced to deal with the state bureaucracy, there is a bit of good news. The Department of Workforce Solutions, formerly known as the Department of Labor, this weekend is upgrading its mainframe computer, which should mean faster information processing.

The mainframe handles unemployment insurance claims and the related tax system. Access to the unemployment insurance call center and the department's unemployment Web site will be inoperable from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday. The call center plans to reopen at 9 a.m. Sunday and operate until 4 p.m.

The upgrade to the IBM mainframe will "further capacity and increase capability for processing claims," department spokeswoman Carrie Moritomo said.

The upgrade to a new mainframe will cost just over $666,000, Moritomo said — money the state is getting from the federal economic stimulus package.

"It just makes more space available for information to transfer back and forth," she said. "It's going to allow us to do our information processing faster."

The department's secretary-designate, Ken Ortiz, called the upgrade a "key step in the department's continuing effort to provide greater, faster and more efficient services to our customers."

The upgrade comes as the department is facing scrutiny for a variety of computer glitches and payment delays, as well as long waiting times when trying to access information by phone.

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