The last shift
For many restaurant workers, their final shifts fell on Saturday, March 14. “We had kind of a weird weekend, and at Saturday night, it was so dead in there, we said, ‘Should we shut down?’” recalls Brandon Peck, bartender at The Jasper, a popular Richmond craft cocktail bar. “The governor had, that day, made a […]
80k+ Virginians filed jobless claims last week
More than 80,000 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, down nearly 21% from the previous week, according to a news release issued Thursday by Virginia Unemployment Commission. During the week that ended April 18, Virginia saw 82,729 workers file for unemployment, bringing the most recent five-week total for jobless claims to 493,501 — […]
Survey shows 24M jobs lost since labor market stats last released
Approximately 24 million jobs have been lost since the last United States Department of Labor market statistics were released in mid-March, according to a survey conducted by economists at Virginia Commonwealth University and Arizona State University. “[This is] an unheard of loss in any economic downturn since the Great Depression,” said Adam Blandin, a VCU […]
More than 100k Virginians filed for unemployment last week
More than 100,000 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, according to a news release Thursday afternoon from the Virginia Unemployment Commission. During the week that ended on April 11, Virginia saw 104,619 workers file for unemployment, bringing the most recent four-week total to 410,762. If 67,000 more Virginians file initial claims for unemployment, […]
Nearly 150,000 Virginians filed for unemployment last week
As the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis continues, 147,369 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, according to a news release Thursday afternoon from the Virginia Employment Commission. This brings Virginia’s total unemployment claims for the last three weeks to 306,143. It’s more than twice the number of the roughly 135,000 jobless claims […]
In one week, Va. unemployment has doubled
A record-breaking 112,497 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. That’s an increase of 66,220 claimants since last week, when 46,277 people filed for benefits. In the last two weeks, more Virginians have filed for unemployment than in the entire previous year. Nearly 159,000 Virginians filed claims in […]
Va. jobless claims reach record high amid COVID-19 crisis
A record-breaking 46,885 Virginians filed for unemployment benefits last week amid the economic nosedive that has accompanied the COVID-19 crisis, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics released Thursday. The previous record for initial unemployment claims in Virginia was 25,133 in December 1989, according to a report released Thursday from the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis [&hell[...]
Unemployment remained low for November in metro areas
Although not each individual city or county fell under a 5% unemployment rate in November 2019, Virginia’s 11 major metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below 3%, according to data released Friday by the Virginia Employment Commission. Statewide, the locality with the lowest unemployment was Arlington County, at 1.7%. Buchanan County in far Southwest Virginia had […]