Sign In
Free Newsletter
Initial jobless claims dropped 21.9% last week, but remain elevated
Initial jobless claims filed last week dropped 21.9% from the previous week, but still remain high compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to figures released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission. During the week ending Feb. 6, 14,203 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims, compared to 18,177 from the week prior. Last week, 65,091 Virginians remained unemployed, […]
Why the Richmond Fed has zero Black Ph.D. economists
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is one of only five Fed banks that employs zero Black Ph.D. economists, according to a New York Times report this week. Of the 12 Federal Reserve banks, seven employ only one or two Black Ph.D. economists, which Fed officials blame on lack of Black talent in the economics […]
Va. hotel revenues fell 42% in December 2020
Virginia hotel revenues for December 2020 were on trend for a year that saw the hospitality industry suffer from the pandemic. Compared with December 2019, hotel revenues statewide declined by 42% during December 2020, according to data released Monday from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides weekly market data on the U.S. hospitality […]
Va. saw slight decline in initial jobless claims last week
Virginia saw a 13.1% drop in the number of initial jobless claims filed last week compared to the previous week, but unemployment remains high across the state, according to figures released by the Virginia Employment Commission on Thursday. The week ending Jan. 23 saw 18,312 Virginians filing initial unemployment claims, a decrease of 2,761 claimants […]
Unemployment shows minimal improvement in Va., U.S.
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by less than 1% between November 2020 and December 2020, according to the Virginia Employment Commission, and the commonwealth’s 4.9% December unemployment rate for December was 2.2% higher than in December 2019. Early predictions from Virginia Commonwealth University and Arizona State University economists show that U.S. employment[...]
Northam orders companies held temporarily harmless for pandemic layoffs
Gov. Ralph Northam issued an executive order Tuesday that will hold Virginia businesses harmless for any layoffs made during three months of the pandemic. The end-of-year order protects businesses from having to pay an additional $200 million in payroll taxes to replenish the Virginia Employment Commission’s Unemployment Insurance Trust. Due to the COVID-19 economic fallout, […]
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 […]
