Before the pandemic, the Oregon Employment Department answered 90% of its calls within five minutes.

That sounds marvelous now.

In April, people still were spending 70 minutes on hold. And earlier in the pandemic, it was much, much worse.

The department just announced it still hasn’t hit its own target to significantly reduce wait times. It still hopes to hit its pre-pandemic performance by the end of the year.

There have been many excuses, some less understandable than others — the flood of applications, botched upgrades of systems and now the inability to find workers. There have been many assurances and promises.

And there has been progress. The department does at least respond to more inquiries in a week, 11,000, than it receives, 8,000. A backlog remains.

How much long will Oregonians have to wait to have the level of service from the Employment Department that they deserve?