Unemployment claims remain high across the state
Published 5:38 pm Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Photo Contributed Unemployment benefit claims for Tennessee continue to show new claims filed and the continued claims running over 50,000 weekly.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
A recent report from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development continues to show a large number of continued claims being paid out in the state as the number from the most recent report ending for the week of February 6, 2021, shows that a total of 51,660 claims were paid out.
The same report shows there were 9,498 new claims filed for the period as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact businesses both large and small across the state.
Since the reporting began on March 14, 2020, there have been a total of 1,054,190 unemployment claims filed in the state.
The 51,660 continued claims represented a decrease of 2,620 claims from the previous week total of 54,280 and the 9,498 represents a decrease of 1,999 in new claims filed from the previous reporting cycle.
A total of $69,023,050 has been paid for Tennessee unemployment claims with the state responsible for $8,591,431 of those payments and Federal Payments totaling $60,431,618 from the COVID Relief Program.
Since the 2021 year began, there has been an average of 14,965 new claims filed weekly, and the weekly average for continued claims totals 47,495.
Locally in Carter County, after an initial filing of 41 claims since the pandemic began, there are currently 276 weekly continued claims in the county.
Washington County has 728 continued claims while Sullivan (897), Unicoi (129), Johnson (82), Greene (490), Hawkins (388), and Hancock (38) close out the Northeast Tennessee Reporting area accounting for 3,028 total continued claims.
That number pales in comparison to Davidson County which still has 5,728 continued claims.
While businesses continue to be allowed to reopen to a much larger capacity under the guidelines of the state, some will never be able to recoup from the impact that COVID-19 wreaked on businesses locally and statewide.
Many are counting on the recent surge of COVID vaccinations to help businesses turn around and put people back to work.
