Va. new unemployment claims drop 47%

Virginia’s new unemployment claims dropped by 47% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, following a drop of 50% in the week ending Nov. 27.

For the filing week ending Dec. 4, Virginians filed 3,450 initial claims, a decrease of 3,096 from the week before. Continued claims totaled 14,598, an increase of 681 from the previous week.

Compared to the same week last year, initial claims were 79% lower than the 16,654 recorded then. Continued claims were 80% lower than the 73,804 reported in the comparable week last year. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The majority of claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; professional and business services; administrative and waste services; retail; and manufacturing.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 184,000, a decrease of 43,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the lowest level for initial claims since September 6, 1969, when it was 182,000. Although the labor market has been improving, the seasonal adjustment for unemployment claims data does affect the data — without it, unemployment claims last week were 281,000, CNBC reported. There were 946,661 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020.