Fla. starts accepting jobless claims again

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Unemployed Floridians are starting to file for jobless claims again, but it may not be going smoothly.

State officials said that a new online $63 million system used to process unemployment insurance claims was up Tuesday. The old system used by the state was shut down last week.

Monica Russell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Economic Opportunity, said that at the end of the first day nearly 19,000 were able to file for assistance. An additional 2,400 people were also able to file for unemployment insurance for the first time.

But the agency's Facebook page was filled with complaints from people who said they were having problems filing claims.

An estimated 235,000 people in Florida receive unemployment benefits every two weeks.