The US state of Tennessee has been one of the areas hardest hit by the US recession.

The unemployment rate in Tennessee is 10.7 per cent and in many parts of the state it is more than twice that.

So now, Tennessee has cleared the way to use millions of dollars of stimulus money allocated to the state - part of the wider $787bn package passed by the US congress - to pay people's wages directly.

Monica Villamizar travelled there to see if the scheme is working.