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Va. unemployment claims remain high, but new claims drop
Although the number of initial jobless claims filed last week dropped relative to the previous week, unemployment numbers remain high, according to figures released by the Virginia Employment Commission on Thursday. During the week ending Jan. 16, 21,073 Virginians filed initial claims, a 25.3% decline from the previous week, which saw 28,227 people file new […]
Genworth notifies employees of job cuts
Henrico County-based Genworth Financial Inc. has notified some employees of job cuts, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The job cuts come on the heels of the company’s Jan. 4 announcement that its planned $2.7 billion acquisition by China-based Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. has been frozen. Company spokesperson Julie Westermann declined to share the number […]
Mohawk Industries to invest $22.5M in Carroll County operation
Flooring manufacturing giant Mohawk Industries Inc. will invest $22.5 million to expand its Carroll County operation, creating 35 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. Mohawk, which currently employs more than 900 Virginians, will add 19,000 square feet to its 351 Floyd Pike facility in Hillsville and install new equipment to increase its production speed. “We […]
Va. sees highest number of initial jobless claims since July 2020
Last week, more than 28,000 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims — a 44.5% jump from the previous week. This is the greatest number of initial claims reported since July 2020. During the week ending Jan. 9, 28,227 Virginians filed initial claims, which was an increase of 8,697 from the previous week. This could in part […]
Number of initial jobless claims remained at 14K last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week stayed close to its Aug. 8 peak, with more than 14,000 Virginians filing new unemployment claims, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Wednesday. For the week ending Dec. 19, 14,640 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 131 claimants from the previous week. […]
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 […]
Va. unemployment rate fell less than 1% between October and November
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell by less than 1% between October and November to 4.9%, according to employment statistics released Friday by the Virginia Employment Commission — but unemployment still remains 2.2% higher than the same time last year. The labor force grew by 0.4% to 4.28 million between October and November, while the […]
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 […]
Northam proposes $240M for pandemic response
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise and frontline medical workers receive the first vaccine doses, Gov. Ralph Northam called on the General Assembly to allocate $240 million toward pandemic response in his proposed budget amendments released Wednesday. “The budget I present today preserves our focus on flexibility, targeted investments and help for Virginians. While we […]
Goodwill of Central and Coastal Va. receives $10M gift
Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia announced Tuesday it has received a $10 million grant from novelist MacKenzie Scott, who has donated more than $4.2 billion across 384 organizations during the past four months. Scott is the former wife of Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos. The gift will help Goodwill provide job-readiness training to people […]
Smithfield Foods gifts $300K to Hampton Roads Workforce Council
Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer, announced Tuesday it has donated $300,000 to the Hampton Roads Workforce Council (HRWC), a nonprofit that develops workforce policy and initiatives in Southeastern Virginia. The donation will support the HRWC’s new Veterans Employment Center in Newport News. The center will provide resources and coaching [&hell[...]
Three Hampton Roads community colleges announce job training collaboration
The new Community College Workforce Cooperative (CCWC), a collaboration among three Hampton Roads community colleges, will create a single point of contact for accessing workforce training resources, Virginia Community Colleges (VCCS) Chancellor Glenn DuBois announced Monday. Paul D. Camp, Thomas Nelson and Tidewater community colleges will work together to meet large-scale job training needs fo[...]
