Unemployment Data Calculated Before COVID-19 Layoff Surge

NASHVILLE (March 2020) — Unemployment statistics for March 2020 in Tennessee were based on unemployment numbers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s full effects on the state’s economy.

The unemployment numbers indicate a 3.5 percent unemployment rate for both February and March 2020. In March, the number of unemployed persons was listed at 116,846. However, on April 18, the state’s unemployment was 15 percent.

Pre-pandemic numbers are as follows for March 2020:

Carroll, 628 unemployed and a rate of 5.2 percent, compared to 4.8 percent one year earlier.

Henry, 707 unemployed and a rate of 5.0 percent, compared to 4.4 one year earlier.

Obion, 626 unemployed and a rate of 5.0, up from 4.6 one year earlier.

Weakley, 597 unemployed and a rate of 3.7 percent, down from 3.8 percent one year earlier.

The northwest Tennessee counties of Benton, Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Gibson, Henry, Lake, Obion and Weakley had the highest unemployment rate of any region in the state at 4.7 percent.

The U.S. had 7,140,000 unemployed in March for a rate of 4.4 percent. More than 20 million were unemployed as of April 20 due to the nationwide shutdowns because of the pandemic.

This week, a few states are relaxing social distancing requirements and also opening some industries and businesses that were previously considered “non-essential.” Prior to the pandemic, most areas of the country were recording the lowest unemployment numbers in over 50 years.