Fewer Tennesseans filed new unemployment claims this past week, while the number of continued claims in the state also slightly fell.
This, according to a press release The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development put out Thursday.
Exactly 37,319 Tennessee residents filed new claims for the week of May 2 compared with one week prior, April 25, when they filed 43,792 claims, according to the TDLWD.
Meanwhile, the number of continued unemployment claims dropped from 324,543 last week to 321,571 this week, the TDLWD reported.
The TDLWD on Thursday reported the following number of unemployment claims, by region:
• Greater Memphis: 8,218
• Northwest Tennessee: 918
• Southwest Tennessee: 1,244
• Northern Middle Tennessee: 13,274
• Southern Middle Tennessee: 2,255
• Upper Cumberland: 1,009
• Southeast Tennessee: 3,787
• East Tennessee: 6,303
• Northeast Tennessee: 1,781
• West Tennessee Mobile American Job Center: 18
• Middle Tennessee Mobile American Job Center: 108
• East Tennessee Mobile America Job Center: 10
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, residents in Northern Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee have likely filed high numbers of claims because of their respective hospitality industries.
If tourists may not travel to those areas then, of course, Tennessee’s hospitality industry cannot thrive.
“There is no way to know for certain why these areas of Tennessee have seen more unemployment than others. But, Nashville sits in the Northern Middle Tennessee region and the Smoky Mountains are part of the East Tennessee region,” TDLWD spokesman Chris Cannon told The Star last month.
“These locations are home to a majority of the state’s hospitality industry. This industry has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 health emergency in our state.”
Also, as reported, TDLWD officials did not see an unprecedented increase in unemployment claims until the third and fourth weeks of March. The statewide unemployment rate for April 2020 will come out on May 21, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. Central Time, TDLWD officials said.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “People Filling Out Paperwork” by Micah Sittig. CC BY 2.0.
