Tennessee saw 25,794 more people file unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus continues to impact the state’s economy, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).
The jobless claims for the week ending July 18 increased slightly from the 22,431 claims from the previous week.
The number of unemployment weekly claims Tennessee has received since May 9 have all been under 30,000.
TDLWD data shows that 740,123 Tennesseans have asked the government for assistance since March 15.
As the number of unemployment claims has steadied in recent months, the state’s unemployment rate has gone down. According to the TDLWD, the Volunteer State’s June seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.7 percent, which is down 1.3 percent from May.
In comparison, Tennessee has a lower seasonally adjusted unemployment rate than the national average of 11.1 percent.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate “is a statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment change from month to month,” the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics’ website said.
The counties with the highest unemployment rates were Shelby County (13.2 percent), Grundy County (13.1 percent), Cocke County (12.7 percent), Warren County (12.7 percent) and Sevier County (12.6 percent).
The counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Williamson County (6.7 percent), Crockett County (6.8 percent), Pickett County (7.2 percent), Overton County (7.4 percent) and Humphreys County (7.4 percent).
Knoxville had the lowest unemployment rate among the state’s three largest cities at 9.5 percent while Nashville and Memphis both had an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent.
“Seventy-four counties had lower jobless rates for the month, as Tennessee continues to reopen after many businesses closed in the spring to help curb the spread of COVID-19,” according to the TDWLD press release.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected]. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
