Up Next
Back to Show
PBS News Hour
Decades-old unemployment systems can’t handle record demand
More than 22 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in recent weeks due to the novel coronavirus. And those record numbers are taxing decades-old unemployment systems in states across the U.S., many which use a legacy programming language called COBOL. State governments are now trying to find more programmers qualified to fix the systems. NewsHour Weekend's Christopher Booker reports.