Tennesseans filed 68,968 new unemployment claims in the week ending on April 18.
Tennessee's number of new claims in a week has fallen for two weeks in a row now. The state's weekly unemployment claim totals rose dramatically in mid-March, reaching a peak of 116,141 new claims in a week earlier this month.
This latest number is still far above average pre-pandemic levels.
Tennessee officials released these numbers for weekly unemployment claim totals in the past 5 weeks:
- 74,772 new claims for the week ending on April 11
- 116,141 new claims for the week ending on April 4
- 94,492 new claims for the week ending on March 28
- 39,096 new claims for the week ending March 21
- 2, 702 new claims for the week ending March 14
RELATED: TN Dept. of Labor: Relief for self-employed individuals is coming "in the next few business days"
National unemployment claims show a similar pattern. After a record-breaking spike in new weekly unemployment claims when the coronavirus first impacted the economy, new weekly numbers are gradually going down.
Officials said 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week ending on April 18.
This new number is lower than the 6.9 million, 6.6 million and 5.5 million reported unemployment claims in each of the three previous weeks.