Tennessee Adjusts Reported Number Of New Unemployment Claims
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Published July 20, 2021
By Jon Styf [The Center Square contributor] –
The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development has adjusted the number of new unemployment claims for the week ending July 10 to 6,744 instead of the previously reported 9,376 claims.
The higher number was reported in national data from the U.S. Department of Labor late last week.
The initial number was higher because the data included transitional claims, which is not a new unemployment claim. Instead, a transitional claim is a claim from someone who previously received benefits to receive benefits in the new benefit year.
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After Thursday’s report, the U.S. Department of Labor sent guidance to states that left the federal supplemental pandemic unemployment program to not include transitional claims in their unemployment numbers.
Tennessee left the federal program on July 3. The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce said those claims are “monetarily ineligible to receive benefits from the state’s Tennessee Unemployment Compensation (TUC) program.”
The adjusted number of initial claims means Tennessee’s new claims rose slightly from the 6,596 in the week ending July 3 after a pair of weeks where new claims were less than 5,000 a week, the lowest number of new claims since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for June was 4.9%, one-tenth of a percentage point below May’s rate. The national unemployment rate was at 5.9%.
About the Author:
Jon Styf is a freelance writer for Tennessee and South Carolina.
Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
