Tennessee unemployment claims still remain high
Published 4:54 pm Thursday, June 18, 2020
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders While there is still an increase in the amount of unemployment claims being filed in the State of Tennessee, there are still opportunities for work locally as evidenced by the Help Wanted sign for The Mayflower Restaurant.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
Even as the economy continues to open more business doors every day, the number of unemployment claims continue to stay high partially due to certain types of businesses that have had to remain closed or due to the supply and demand of products not being as high resulting in extended layoffs.
For the period ending on June 13, 2020, Tennessee saw 19,925 new claims filed and that number is the second-lowest amount filed since the week of March 14, 2020, when the pandemic started to majorly impact the state when 2,702 claims were filed.
Continued claims for the most recent claim period came in at 280,593. That number has shrunk by 11,641 since the week of June 6, 2020, when there were 292,234 claims that were continued.
The highest number of continued claims came during the period ending May 9, 2020, when there were 325,095 continued claims and 43,792 new claims filed for the same period.
All of the claims paid out by the state have come through the Coronavirus Relief Fund which also added an additional $600 per claim per week possibly creating the opportunity for those who filed to take advantage of making more money through unemployment than they would have to work a job.
While those additional funds were a welcome relief, most will bear the brunt of taking advantage of the funds when they file federal tax returns for 2020 and have to claim those monies from unemployment unless special guidelines are put into place with the worldwide pandemic.
There has been a total of $291,128,269 paid out, all coming from the Relief Fund as the total claims paid out for the recent week was 300,324 for those filing claims with the state.
Greater Memphis led the week for the number of new claims filed as there were 5,467 claims filed for the period. Northern Middle Tennessee had 4,880 new claims, while East Tennessee recorded 2,055.
The Upper Cumberland workforce development area recorded the lowest number of new claims outside of mobile American Job Centers with 433 new claims filed.
Northwest Tennessee added 442 claims, Southwest Tennessee 591, Northeast Tennessee 649, and Southern Middle Tennessee 851 claims.
Locally, there have been a number of Help Wanted signs out by several food service providers as well as other businesses indicating that jobs are available to those who would rather work than file claims.
