The number of Tennesseans who filed unemployment claims has doubled in just one week, according to numbers the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) revealed Thursday.
Exactly 94,492 Tennesseans filed unemployment claims as of March 28, according to TDLWD numbers.
One week prior, on March 21, TDLWD officials reported that 39,096 Tennesseans filed for unemployment.
On March 14, before COVID-19 disrupted American life in a big way, exactly 2,702 Tennesseans filed for unemployment, the TDLWD said.
Northern Middle Tennessee had the highest number of unemployment claims as of March 28, totaling 32,246. East Tennessee had 20,025 claims. Greater Memphis residents, meanwhile, filed 12,548 claims.
Other TDLWD numbers show the following number of claims, going by Local Workforce Development Area:
• Southeast Tennessee: 9,309 unemployment claims
• Southern Middle Tennessee: 8,147 unemployment claims
• Northeast Tennessee: 4,749 unemployment claims
• Upper Cumberland Tennessee: 3,295 unemployment claims
• Southwest Tennessee: 2,571 unemployment claims
• Northwest Tennessee: 2,299 unemployment claims
• Middle Tennessee Mobile American Job Center: 336 unemployment claims
• East Tennessee Mobile American Job Center: 41 unemployment claims
• West Tennessee Mobile American Job Center: 30 unemployment claims
As The Tennessee Star reported last week, TDLWD officials said they are processing these claims as quickly as possible to determine eligibility and distribute benefit payments.
TDLWD has added additional resources to help process the influx of new claims, including training 200 Department employees to shift their job tasks to unemployment.
TDLWD spokesman Chris Cannon said last week that the maximum weekly unemployment benefit in Tennessee is $275 before the deduction of federal taxes. Claimants receive this benefit through a debit card or direct deposit to a bank account, Cannon added.
As The Star also reported last week, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-TN-07) said during a coronavirus Tele-Town Hall that he expects what he called “a hockey puck type recession.”
The $2 trillion federal stimulus bill Congress passed, Green went on to say, should “fuel massive growth.”
“You will see a massive dip in GDP in this quarter and then a massive increase,” Green said.
Green said the bill helps the self-employed and independent contractors and treats them the same as businesses. The Small Business Administration, Green went on to say, would help those people cover their expenses.
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Long Lines” by Gabriel White. CC BY-SA 2.0.
