Tennessee Unemployed to Keep Extended Benefits

Image courtesty TN Dept of Labor

Tennessee’s long term unemployed won’t miss a single benefit check after the state’s Department of Labor spent weeks warning that the end was near.

The deal to avert the fiscal cliff kept federal money flowing to the unemployed who had exhausted their 26 weeks of state-funded benefits.

There was a similar last minute extension a year ago. Labor department spokesman Jeff Hentschel says the 30,000 Tennesseans who were being cut off should keep getting their average $240 a week.

“I think each time, we’ve gotten better at these kind of changes. And it looks like we’re on target to make these benefits happen and people won’t experience a loss of benefit.”

The extended unemployment checks now expire at the beginning of next year.