NEW YORK - Noel Osborne's life turned stressful Monday. That's when he was laid off from his job as a concierge at the Landmark movie theater on West 57th Street in Manhattan.

"Now I have to start tapping into savings," said Osborne. "So it's going to get tight for sure."

The 56-year-old said adding to the stress has been the frustration he's experienced just trying to register for unemployment benefits.

Over the last few days, he has spent hours on the phone and on the state's website, to no avail. 

"It's been very frustrating because I've not been able to get through to the unemployment office," said Osborne.

The state acknowledged the system has been slow due to a surge in applications from all the people who have lost their jobs over the last few days. 

On Thursday alone, the state labor department registered more than 206,000 website logins and 159,000 calls by noon. That's a 400 percent increase over the normal average.

The state said it has added server capacity and dedicated more than 700 employees to help out, with more on the way.

Economists fear all the business closures will be devastating for workers, particularly those who earn low wages. 

"All those services that have provided face-to-face have been curtailed to a large extent," said James Parrott of the Center for NYC Affairs at the New School. "And that will likely affect a half a million New York workers in the next week or so. That's about 10 percent of all jobs in New York City.

With so much of the city shut down, workers like Noel Osborne don't have any idea when they'll even be able to start looking for another job.

Until he's back at work, Osborne told us he hopes he can quickly get the government assistance he needs to pay his rent and buy groceries. 

"It's very frustrating because of course I'm waiting for my unemployment benefits if I can get them," said Osborne. "And I'm out of work right now so I really don't know what's going to happen."

For laid-off workers, the financial unease is made much worse by the ongoing health crisis.