St. Louis (KMOV) -- Last month Missouri received more than 32,000 first-time applications for unemployment benefits. The state unemployment rate stands at 6.6 percent.

Three months ago President Bush signed into law an extension of benefits, but now some having a hard time just signing up for the benefits.

Judy Rosenberger works in information technology, she was laid off in May.  For her, finding a full-time job is a full-time job.

"I’m not greedy I just want to make a decent living, a middle-class living to pay all my bills," she says.

With her initial benefits running out she spent three days trying to get through to labor department officials to get extended benefits.  The automated system was so overloaded it wouldn't even let her stay on hold.

"Normally I understand Mondays and Tuesdays are their busy days, and they even say that in the message but by Wednesday I was getting really concerned and there was nothing on-line where I could apply for it,” she said.

News 4 has learned a call center employing 60 people in St. Louis, one of four in the state, was closed.  One source tells News 4 the remaining centers are swamped and can't handle the calls. 

Rosenberger must come once a month to a state office to update her job search.  She is required to contact at least three employers each week. She says she has been contacting 35 each week.

But while she checks in here, it is not an unemployment office.  The state did away with offices and now has centers.  The director of SLATE, the St. Louis Agency of Training and Employment, says it is a more sophisticated method of plugging workers into the right job.

"If they need assessment we will do an assessment on their skills, to make sure their job or the career their choosing they have the qualifications to get into," says Michael Holmes.

As for Rosenberger, while she continues to find work, she's also getting her University City home ready to sell.  She says she simply can't afford to keep it.