72k+ Virginians filed jobless claims last week

More than 72,000 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, according to the Virginia Employment Commission, a decrease of about 10,000 jobless claims from the week prior.

“Though the 12.4% decline indicates that the volume of initial claims has retreated from its recent peak, it may not return to pre-pandemic levels for some time,” VEC Economist Timothy Aylor said in a statement.

And although the number of initial claims for unemployment decreased, the number of Virginians who have continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits reached 341,295 last week — more than 10% of private sector payroll employment in the commonwealth. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file unemployment claims each week in order to continue receiving benefits.

Young workers and female workers continue to make up the majority of initial claimants, although the numbers of older workers, male workers and minority workers grew during the past week, according to the VEC.

More than 3.8 million people in the United States filed initial claims for unemployment last week,  according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, marking a total of 30.3 million Americans who have filed jobless claims during the last six weeks.

Last week’s U.S. claims were down by 603,000 from the week before, a sign that the flood of initial claims may be slowing.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 12.4% for the week that ended April 18, a 1.5% increase from the previous week.

The states with the highest unemployment rates for the week that ended on April 11 were Michigan, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Rhode Island, Washington, Alaska, New York and West Virginia. States with the largest increases in initial claims for the week that ended on April 18 were Florida, Connecticut, West Virginia, Louisiana and Texas. The largest decreases happened in California, Michigan, Georgia and Washington.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted are Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of continued unemployment claims, for the week ending April 25:

• Fairfax County, 39,445
• Virginia Beach, 20,951
• Prince William County, 19,270
• Loudoun County, 14,809
• Richmond, 14,196
• Chesterfield County, 13,750
• Henrico County, 13,363
• Norfolk, 11,155
• Newport News, 9,585
• Chesapeake, 8,742

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