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Pandemic brings end to decade of job gains
The public health crisis brought an unanticipated end to 11 straight quarters of economic growth and nearly a decade of job gains in Virginia, according to Old Dominion University’s 2020 State of the Commonwealth Report, released on Dec. 20 by ODU’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected how […]
14K+ Virginians filed initial jobless claims last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week reached close to its Aug. 8 peak, with more than 14,000 Virginians filing initial unemployment claims, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Thursday. The week prior, initial claims reached more than 16,000. While there was a 12.9% decrease in claims from the previous week, the […]
Va. employment may not fully recover until 2023 to 2025
Virginia may not get back to full, pre-pandemic employment until 2023 to 2025, according to Moody’s Analytics employment forecasting, but Stephen Moret, president and CEO of Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) thinks that the commonwealth can recover sooner. “We not only want to accelerate the path back to full, pre-pandemic employment and even growing beyond, […]
Va. jobless claims fall to lowest level since March
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week fell to its lowest level since the pandemic’s employment effects began to be felt in mid-March, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. Initial jobless claims in Virginia dropped by 29.7% last week compared with the previous filing week, according to the VEC, while continued claims fell […]
Va. hotel revenues remain low during increased COVID-19 restrictions
With COVID-19 cases mounting, Virginia hotel revenues continue to decline when compared with last year, according to data from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides weekly market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. For the week of Nov. 22 through Nov. 28, hotel revenues in Virginia decreased by 34% and rooms sold declined […]
Labor market continued slow recovery in early November
The labor market continued its slow recovery during the week of Nov. 8, according to Virginia Commonwealth University and Arizona State University economists. Early November saw 69.9% of working age adults employed, which is still far below the 73.8% employment rate from February right before the pandemic, according to the Real-Time Population Survey conducted by […]
Va. unemployment rate fell less than 1% between September and October
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by less than 1% between September and October to 5.3%, according to employment statistics released Friday by the Virginia Employment Commission — but unemployment still remains 2.6% higher than the same time last year. The labor force fell by 0.4% to 4.27 million while the number of employed Virginians increased […]
Initial jobless claims rise as extended benefits come to an end
As the U.S. Department of Labor notified the Virginia Employment Commission that the state’s extended benefits program would end on Nov. 21, more than 11,000 Virginians filed initial jobless claims and more than 85,000 filed continued claims. Under the extended benefit program, Virginians who had already used regular unemployment insurance benefits as well as any […]
Hilton to sell $1.9B in debt in private offering
As hotel industry revenues continue plummeting, McLean-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. announced this week it will sell $1.9 billion in debt in a private offering to institutional buyers. The hotelier will sell $800 million of senior notes (due in 2029) at a 3.75% interest rate and an additional $1.1 billion at a 4% rate. Those […]
Northam: ‘Staying home is an act of love’
Gov. Ralph Northam said that news about mobile morgues in other states with COVID-19 spikes prompted him to enact new mitigation measures on Friday across the state. “What really affected me was seeing mobile morgues outside hospitals because there was no place to put the dead,” the governor said at his news conference Wednesday afternoon. […]
More than $1.9M in grants going to Va.’s tourism industry
While COVID-19 continues to slam the tourism and hospitality industries, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday that more than $1.9 million in matching grants will be disbursed among 161 local tourism initiatives as part of Virginia Tourism Corp.’s Recovery Marketing Leverage Program (RMLP). Although Virginia’s tourism industry had another record year in 2019, posting $27 billion [&hellip[...]
Initial jobless claims fell again last week
The number of initial jobless claims in Virginia dropped by 4.3% last week compared to the previous filing week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, while continued claims fell by 7.8%. For the week ending Nov. 7, 9,909 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, a decrease of 441 from the previous week. Last week, 91,960 […]
