NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - While unemployment in Tennessee remains at near historic high levels, only about 10 percent of workers getting jobless benefits have to prove they are actively seeking work.
A U.S. Department of Labor report questions how well Tennessee is overseeing unemployment payments to an estimated 120,000 people. The report obtained by The Chattanooga Times Free Press shows that Tennessee has one of the highest "improper payment" rates in the nation.
State Employment Security Administrator Don Ingram blamed the problems in accountability on the huge influx of unemployed workers during the Great Recession that overwhelmed the state's computers.
Ingram said the department wasn't able to meet all the U.S. Department of Labor's requirements for processing jobless claims, but said it was not necessarily fraud or overpayment.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
