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Va. saw nearly 20% drop in initial jobless claims last week
Initial jobless claims filed last week fell 19.8% from the previous week, according to figures released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission but continued claims slightly increased. During the week ending Feb. 20, 11,944 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims, compared to 14,901 from the week prior. Last week, 64,575 Virginians remained unemployed; that represents 42,082 [&hellip[...]
Hotel revenues down 27% for January
Virginia hotel revenues for January 2021 were down 27% compared with January 2020, continuing the industry’s slow climb back to recovering from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released Thursday from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. For the same period, rooms […]
What stays and what goes
With renewed hopes stemming from vaccine distribution, economists and business leaders are looking ahead toward recovery, including pandemic-induced changes that will stay and ways we’ll return to “normalcy.” While it’s evident that the technology sector’s upward trend will continue, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin isn’t sure that telew[...]
Va. saw slight uptick in jobless claims last week
Initial jobless claims filed last week rose 4.9% from the previous week, according to figures released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission, while continued claims slightly dropped. During the week ending Feb. 13, 14,901 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims, compared to 14,203 from the week prior. Last week, 62,624 Virginians remained unemployed; that represents 40,143 [&hellip[...]
Va. General Fund revenue dropped 2.4% in January
Virginia’s General Fund revenue for January 2021 decreased 2.4% compared with January 2020, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. Total revenue collections rose 6% through January on a fiscal year-to-date basis, which was well ahead of the 1.2% growth forecast. “As we work to put this pandemic behind us, we must stay focused on positioning our […]
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 […]
