Unemployment claims in Tennessee are still high, but the number of new claims for the past week is lower than the week before.
With businesses closed or minimized because of the coronavirus pandemic, 74,772 new unemployment claims were filed in the state. That number is for the week ending April 11.
The week before, ending April 4, Tennesseans filed 116,141 new claims. During the week ending on March 28, Tennesseans filed 94,492 new claims. During the week ending March 21, Tennesseans filed 39,096 new claims.
In the week ending March 14, Tennesseans filed only 2,702 new claims.
"If we'd gone back a month ago and you told me we were going to have 75,000 initial claims this week, I would have thought it was extraordinary," UT professor of economics Dr. Bill Fox said. "The direction was good, though the numbers are still incredibly high."
Nationally, new claim numbers also stayed high with 5.2 million more people filing for unemployment benefits last week.
Roughly 22 million Americans sought jobless benefits in the past month — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.
All told, roughly 12 million people are now receiving unemployment checks, roughly matching the peak reached in January 2010, shortly after the Great Recession officially ended.
Under the CARES Act, anyone approved for unemployment insurance will receive an extra $600 a week from the federal government, in addition to state benefits.
"The average [state benefit] in Tennessee is about $240 a week and so that means combined, you get about $840 a week," Dr. Fox told 10News. "The disincentive effects of so much unemployment insurance has been a concern of mine from day one."
That sum breaks down to $21 an hour, whereas the average job in Knox County pays $15.23, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Dr. Bill Fox said that difference can have a negative impact on the workforce.
"The incentive to go to a place that might pay me $16 or 17 or $18 an hour isn't very high," Dr. Fox said. "We need the workers who can be out helping us with accessing food and pharmaceuticals and the everyday necessities of life."
He said he is aware of a number of small businesses that were asked by their workers to lay them off temporarily.
"People have incentives to ask to be laid off," he said. "At the other end, you do worry about as the economy opens back up if people will be willing to go back to work."
The CARES Act allows for the additional $600 a week through July 31. Tennessee has received at least 324,000 unemployment claims in the last month.