Faulty Websites Confront Needy in Search of Aid Phelan M. Ebenhack for The New York Times Albert Harris, an Army reservist in Orlando, Fla., who received an unemployment check after numerous calls to customer service. MIAMI - Three months after the disastrous rollout of a new $63 million website for unemployment claims, Florida is hiring hundreds of employees to deal with technical problems that left tens of thousands of people without their checks while penalties mount against the vendor who set up the site. Efforts at modernizing the systems for unemployment compensation in California, Massachusetts and Nevada have also largely backfired in recent months, causing enormous cost overruns and delays. While the nation's attention was focused on the troubled rollout of the federal health care site under the Affordable Care Act, the problems with the unemployment sites have pointed to something much broader: how a lack of funding in many states and a shortage of information technology specialists in public service jobs routinely lead to higher costs, botched systems and infuriating technical problems that fall hardest on the poor, the jobless and the neediest. As a result, the old stereotype of applicants standing in long lines to speak to surly civil servants at government unemployment offices is quickly being replaced. Now those seeking work or government assistance are often spending countless hours in front of buggy websites, then getting a busy signal when they try to get through by phone. In October, food stamp recipients in 17 states were unable to use their electronic cards for a day because the computer system that runs the program failed. Over the years, similar problems with systems in Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado and other states have prevented people from getting food stamps and Medicaid benefits. The problems come at a time when state legislatures are increasingly demanding efficient methods for people to apply online for aid, from food stamps to unemployment benefits. "It's like calling a radio station trying to get tickets," said Gary A. Grimes, 52, an unemployed construction manager in Pensacola, Fla. His $275 weekly checks stopped after he tried to log in to report that he had gotten a weeklong job but still needed benefits. High unemployment in recent years has forced states to process record numbers of benefit claims using outdated technology, and without significant increases in federal funding, according to a report in 2012 by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for lower-wage workers. Most states are operating unemployment insurance programs with 30-year-old computer systems, said George Wentworth, a senior staff lawyer with the legal group. "What we have seen is that a lot of the old systems have been breaking down," Mr. Wentworth said. The recession really ended up highlighting the fragile state of a lot of these systems. But for many states, the upgrade was even worse. So many applications for benefits were stalled when California introduced its new system on Labor Day that the government had to process them by hand. About 148,000 people waited weeks for their unemployment checks. Similar problems after Massachusetts rolled out its system in July cost the state $800,000 in overtime and new hires to resolve and prompted legislative hearings. The project was delivered two years late and $6 million over the original estimate, The Boston Globe reported. Also in July, Pennsylvania scrapped its $153 million online system for unemployment benefits, because the project was "simply not working," the state's secretary of labor, Julia Hearthway, said at the time. Florida's website trouble stems from a 2011 law that required people to sign up online for unemployment benefits. Before the law, 40 percent of the applications were done by phone. In April, in response to a complaint by the nonprofit Florida Legal Services, the federal Department of Labor found that the online requirement violated the civil rights of people with language barriers and disabilities. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity lashed back, accusing the federal agency of being overly politicized. The state agency's website shows more than 78,000 calls came in to the customer service center last Thursday alone. Of those, fewer than 6,500 callers spoke with a representative. More than 300 customer service representatives and claims adjudicators will be hired in the coming months, the agency said last week. The department blamed its vendor, Deloitte Consulting, which was also responsible for the projects in California and Massachusetts. The agency issued $6 million in penalties against the company, withheld a $3 million payment and on Dec. 23 began fining it $15,000 a day until the problems are fixed.