Unemployed Tennesseans Can Soon Expect To See An Extra $600 Per Week

Some Tennesseans who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic will soon receive an extra $600 per week in their bank account.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce announced today that it has started paying its first installment of federal unemployment benefits, in addition to their state unemployment compensation.

The department said in a statement that, in its first day of distributing benefits from the federal CARES Act, it’s already paid out nearly $94 million for about 110,000 unemployment Tennesseans. They can expect to receive their payments through direct deposit into their bank account by April 15. The federal boost is scheduled to last until late July.

Last week, the Department of Labor said it paid benefits to 114,000 Tennesseans, totaling more than $33 million. So many people have filed for unemployment in recent days that the online application form had to be temporarily taken off the state’s website so officials could process requests that had already been approved.

The form is available at Jobs4TN.gov.