People filing new claims for unemployment benefits by phone face longer wait times due to a spike in call volume.

The average wait to speak with a customer service representative at the state unemployment division on Monday, the center’s busiest day of the week, was 28 minutes, compared with 15 minutes last year, Raymond A. Filippone, assistant director, income support, for the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training said yesterday.

The state’s caseload of unemployment claims, including new and continuing claims, has nearly doubled in the last year, to 21,000 cases, up from about 11,500 during the same time last year, Filippone said. The volume of new unemployment claims, he said, is up 12.2 percent from a year ago.

Rhode Island’s unemployment rate in August jumped to 8.5 percent, the second-highest in the country after Michigan, where the jobless rate was 8.9 percent. Rhode Island’s unemployment rolls in August swelled to 48,800, the highest level on record.

Besides the rise in the number of jobless residents, caseloads are also up because both the state and federal governments have authorized extended unemployment benefits for eligible residents.

Unemployment claims can be submitted either by phone or online. To avoid long wait times, people are advised to either file their claims online or call in the early morning hours or during the extended Saturday hours.

People have seven days from their last day of work to file an unemployment claim, Filippone said. If someone is filing a new claim, it is generally quicker to file it online from home or to use the computers at a local public library or one of the state’s netWORKri career center offices.

The state will accept unemployment claims by phone every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.; Wednesdays 8 a.m. to noon, and Fridays 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Due to the high volume of calls, the state also is offering extended call-center hours this Saturday, Oct. 11, from 8 a.m. to noon.

For more information, go to www.dlt.ri.gov or call (401) 243-9100.

larditi@projo.com