My first unemployment payment still has not arrived - 23 weeks in

I applied for unemployment in Milwaukee 23 weeks ago and the status page still says pending. There are 17 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. I called the state line four times and only reached a recording. Has anyone been through this? How long did it take in the end?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.