Tennessee Unemployment Claims Up For A Third Straight Week

For the third week in a row, new initial unemployment claims are up in Tennessee.

Filings had been ticking downward since early April, when more than 115,000 people applied in a single week. In June the number of people applying in a single week dipped just below 20,000. But last week nearly 26,000 people out of work asked for help from the state.

Nearly 700,000 Tennesseans have applied for unemployment since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than a quarter million are currently relying on the assistance to make ends meet. The help includes additional $600 weekly payments from the Federal CARES Act, which are set to expire at the end of this month. It’s unclear whether congress will extend the extra unemployment aid.

Nationally, 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment over the same period, a slight decrease from the prior week.