37K in TN filed jobless claims last week
State works to reopen economy
Just over 37,300 Tennesseans filed for unemployment last week as Tennessee began its phased plan to reopen its businesses, the smallest number since the coronavirus pandemic slammed the economy in early March.
A total of 477,282 Tennesseans have filed for unemployment since the week ending in March 14, according to state data. Of those claims, 321,571 have continued with weekly certifications.
The overall number of Tennesseans applying for unemployment each week has steadily declined since it peaked at 116,141 claims filed during the week ending in April 4. This week's numbers are the lowest since March 21.
About 3.2 million Americans filed for unemployment last week — a drop from 3.8 million the previous week — bringing the national seven-week total to nearly 33 million. Though the number of weekly claims has dropped over the past five weeks, economists expect April's jobs report, which will be released Friday, will be the worst on record with an estimated unemployment spike of between 15 and 20%.
Tennessee's most recent available unemployment rate for March is a relatively level 3.5%, but this rate does not reflect the unprecedented spike in claims the state saw in the latter half of the month. The federal government surveyed unemployment data in Tennessee between March 8 and March 14 to calculate the rate, before the full impact of pandemic-related closures brought tens of thousands of new claims.
Tennessee's April unemployment rate will be released on May 21.
The onslaught of claims has overwhelmed the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which generally processes about 15,000 claims each month. The department paid about 224,000 claims — totaling more than $236 million in benefits — between April 20 and April 23, according to spokesman Chris Cannon. About 267,053 claims were approved as of April 18.
Tennessee stands to lose an estimated $5 billion to pandemic-related closures this year, according to state leaders.
The majority of layoffs due to the virus are intended to be temporary, but about 64,093 Tennesseans were expected to permanently lose their jobs if the economy had re-opened on May 1, according to a report from the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The report predicts that around 2,000 more people will lose their jobs for each additional week that businesses remain closed.
Gov. Bill Lee began to re-open an economy stagnated by the pandemic last week in 89 of Tennessee's counties. The re-opening plan depends on enhanced testing and the continuation of
Tennessee’s April unemployment rate will be released on May 21.
social distancing to stave off a widelyanticipated "second wave" of the virus.
Counties that operate their own health departments, including Davidson, Shelby, Madison, Hamilton, Knox and Sullivan counties, will determine their own re-opening strategies.
On April 27, restaurants in most counties were allowed to resume serving dine-in customers at half capacity. Retail stores and gyms were also allowed to open with reduced capacity last week.
Salons, barber shops, nail spas and massage therapy services were permitted to re-open Wednesday at 50% capacity, with strict guidelines to accommodate social distancing and maintain the use of protective face coverings, among other things. Dentists, bowling alleys and mini golf courses were also allowed to reopen Wednesday.
But all businesses may not re-open right away.
For some, operating at 50% capacity wouldn't bring in enough money to cover the bills.
Others want to ensure that they reopen safely, minimizing risk to their employees and customers.
USA Today, Sandy Mazza and Yihyun Jeong contributed to this report.
Reach Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephenson@tennessean.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @Cstephenson731.