NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Mike Osborne) -- New numbers released Thursday morning by the State Department of Labor show unemployment in Tennessee is not only climbing again, but accelerating.
Pandemic induced layoffs and furloughs peaked in early April when just over 116,000 Tennesseans filed initial jobless claims. The number of new benefit applications has fallen steadily in the months since.
However, initial unemployment claims began slowly rising again mid-June. The Labor Department last week reported new applications jumped roughly 5 percent. This week initial claims rose just over 12 percent.
Nationwide, initial jobless claims continue to fall slowly, dropping another one percent last week.
The good news for Tennesseans is that the number of workers who continue to file claims for unemployment benefits fell again last week, dropping now for six weeks in a row.
