In a bustling Facebook group called TN Unemployment Nightmares, people commiserate about issues and swap advice. So instead, social media has filled in the gap as a kind of grassroots unemployment help line. SINER: In Tennessee and many other states, the sheer demand for unemployment is backing up every step of the system. WILLIAMS: I think I still would be on hold, waiting. Sure enough, when she got through to a state senator's office in Nashville, her unemployment was approved a couple days later. SINER: Finally, Williams turned to Twitter, and she realized lots of other people were having the same issue. WILLIAMS: Seemed like I spent half of my day calling, calling, calling. She hadn't gotten a response on her claim, and the state customer service line, which she called every morning, would cut her off after 10 minutes on hold. SINER: Williams had filed for unemployment at the end of March, but now it felt like the system had failed her.

YVETTE WILLIAMS: Remind you - I'm a single mother of two kids. It was six weeks after her last day as a part-time medical worker in Memphis. Emily Siner reports from member station WPLN in Nashville that people are trying everything they can think of to get answers.Д®MILY SINER, BYLINE: Yvette Williams was panicking. But a backlog of claims means there are still many who are waiting for their first check. But still, the numbers out today show another 1.9 million people filed for unemployment last week. And each Thursday since the pandemic began, the numbers released have been almost incomprehensible - a total of 42.6 million people. It's Thursday, the day of the week the government takes count of the number of people who have filed for unemployment.

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