NASHVILLE (AP) - A U.S. Department of Labor report has questioned how well Tennessee is overseeing unemployment payments to an estimated 120,000 people as the state's jobless rate lingers at near historic high levels.

The report shows that Tennessee has one of the highest "improper payment" rates in the nation, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported (http://bit.ly/u0Ob8l ). Tennessee's rate was 14.47 percent for improper payments, meaning the state overpaid an estimated $310.7 million over a three-year period.

But State Employment Security Administrator Don Ingram blamed the problems in accountability on the huge influx of unemployed workers during the Great Recession, saying that surge overwhelmed the state's computers.

During the recession, Tennessee's unemployment rose from 4.6 percent in March 2007 to a high of 10.8 percent in July 2009. Last year, 418,000 Tennesseans filed claims for unemploy ment benefits.

"It's not necessarily fraud, and it's not necessarily an overpayment," Ingram said. "We did not meet all of the requirements that the U.S. Department of Labor expects so far as processing of claims."

He said some aspects of the report were misleading because 55 percent of those improper payments were made to workers who were not registered with an employment service or job bank as required by state law.

Ingram said that was a computer problem that they have been trying to fix since 2010.

Another problem the state is trying to address is doing a better job of educating jobless workers on when benefits end. The labor report said about 28 percent of workers continued to claim and receive benefits after returning to work.

Ingram said most people don't realize benefits end when they land a job, rather than when the first paycheck comes in.

In addition to the problems identified in the labor department report, only about 10 percent of workers getting jobless benefits in Tennessee must prove they are actively seeking work.

Just 12,000 to 13,000 people currently receiving unemployment aid in Tennessee have to submit weekly forms identifying at least two employers they have contacts. That's because those workers are getting federally funded extended benefits, which gives an additional 20 weeks of benefits to workers who have exhausted their state and federal emergency benefits.

About 90 percent of Tennesseans collected benefits in the first 79 weeks of unemployment must also certify they are looking for work, but they don't have to provide contact information for potential employers.

Ron Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the Republican Senate speaker, said he wants state law changed to strengthen work-search rules.

"Right now it's been too easy just to click a mouse and say you're looking for a job," Ramsey said. "Used to, you actually had to have some verification that that is the case."

Ingram said the state used to require jobless workers to demonstrate weekly that they really were looking for work, but the paperwork riled employers.

"We want to make sure individuals are actively seeking employment, and we're looking diligently to find ways to document it and do it in a manner we can, based on the resources we have available," Ingram said.

Tennessee is leading a consortium with Georgia and North and South Carolina to create a new Web-based unemployment insurance benefits system, which Ingram said should make changes far easier.