MADISON, Wis. -- Rising unemployment levels in Wisconsin have frustrated those trying to file for benefits and overwhelmed state employees trying to deal with claims.

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Thousands of callers to the state's unemployment insurance hot lines are causing headaches for those trying to file claims. Officials with the state Department of Workforce Development said that last week, more than 250,000 people made calls to the state's two call centers in Madison and Milwaukee. In the same week last year, more than 56,000 people called the phone lines, they said.

The surging demand is causing those trying to file for claims to hit a continual busy signal or get messages to file online or call back at another time, WISC-TV reported.

Tiffany Johnson, of Green Bay, said she recently tried to get through to a state call center, but couldn't after waiting for more than an hour. Johnson is one of many expressing frustration

Jackie Mortimer, of Rio, is one of those seeking to file a claim. She had worked from August through December at American Girl in DeForest, and said that she has been trying to file for unemployment ever since.

"It's always at the end, 'Call another day, goodbye', and he hangs up after you've tried for hours," said Mortimer. "Yesterday, we did over 80 times and it's busy, busy, and once in a while, you'll get the tape, but most of the time, it's busy."

Mortimer estimates that she's called more than 1,000 times since Dec. 26 and has never gotten through. She also tried to file through the state's online program, but the end message told her that she needed to speak by phone with a specialist.

"You knew it was going to really be bad because there are so many unemployed people now. So I expected it would be a while, but not almost a month," Mortimer said.

On Friday, Mortimer told WISC-TV she finally got through to someone on the phone after getting a message and being on hold for an hour.

DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman said the state is taking measures to remedy the problem by hiring 83 new federally funded positions to the call center and extending hours. She said the headaches are the result of an overloaded system.

"We hope that this is going to help us serve people more quickly, which is what we want," she said. "We don't want to see people getting busy signals. We don't want to see people waiting. We don't want to see calls dropped, but because of the extraordinary pressure, that's what we've been seeing."

Department spokesman Richard Jones said about half of 83 temporary positions added to deal with the overload have been filled. Jones said they're working to hire the rest.

A total of 132 employees are working in the state's two call centers, officials said.

The DWD said the lines are busier earlier in the week and recommended that people having trouble getting through call at the end of the week or on the weekends. Officials said people should wait 30 minutes between calls because continuously redialing can jam up the lines.