NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- New unemployment numbers suggest Tennessee’s pandemic related job losses may have peaked.
The state Department of Labor announced Thursday morning that 74,772 Tennesseans made new applications for jobless benefits last week. That’s down 56 percent from the previous week’s initial unemployment claims totaling 116,000 applications. Tennessee’s four week total for new jobless claims now exceeds 324,000.
The U.S. Department of labor reports 6.6 million initial jobless claims were made nationwide this past week. That brings the four week national total to roughly 22 million new unemployment applications. Economists report coronavirus has now wiped out all the employment gains made in the U.S. in the past decade.
Tennessee lost fewer jobs this last week than any state with a similar population. Arizona, Indiana, Missouri and Massachusetts all saw significantly more initial jobless claims.
Tennessee also fared better than most of its southern neighbors. Only Arkansas reports fewer initial jobless claims for the week ending April 11.
