Lawmakers have been mostly quiet about the unemployment insurance upheaval that forced many laid-off Bay Staters to wait months for aid, but when they came face-to-face Monday with the Healey administration’s top labor official, a few made clear that they have been feeling the heat even if the outlook is improving.

Several legislators used Labor Secretary Lauren Jones’s appearance at a state budget hearing to call more attention to problems at the Department of Unemployment Assistance, where the launch of a new technical system last year prompted Massachusetts to tumble to worst-in-the-nation performance for several months before a recent turnaround.

Sen. Jake Oliveira, a Ludlow Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Labor and Workforce Development Committee, said at Monday’s hearing that “all of us have been disturbed by our rankings nationwide,” referencing first-time claimant waits that for much of 2025 were longer than in any other state.

“I’m happy to say that [with] the leadership of this administration and the changes that have been put in place, those wait times have gone down. I’ve seen even in my office less people reaching out,” Oliveira said. “But there’s still a level of frustration that exists with folks when it comes to administering the DUA program.”

Oliveira, who in January pledged to pepper the administration with “tough questions” about the situation, told Jones that his office had been “inundated” with calls from constituents who struggled to access jobless benefits.

That was a seemingly common experience.

Rep. Sally Kerans, a Danvers Democrat, said her office has been “flooded” with messages from constituents seeking help with their unemployment claims.

“Has word gotten out that if you call your state rep, you’ll really get help very quickly?” she said.

Last year, the state transitioned to a new back-end system designed to streamline payment of unemployment benefits. But the process quickly created new problems after it launched in May, with enhanced fraud prevention tools flagging a higher volume of issues and department staff stretched even thinner than usual because they were simultaneously learning how to use a new platform.