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Tag: unemployment

Va. new jobless claims nearly flat

Virginia’s new unemployment claims rose slightly more than 7% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported late Thursday.

For the filing week ending Oct. 9, people filed 10,040 initial claims, an increase of 680 from last week. Continued claims totaled 43,535, a decrease of 484 claims from the previous week. Because of the Monday holiday, this is a state estimate.

Compared to the same week last year, initial claims were 10.2% higher than a year ago, when the state recorded 9,110 claims, and continued claims were 69% lower than the 142,220 continued claims recorded a year ago.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; retail; and accommodations/food service.

The VEC has been under scrutiny this year for backlogs of claims and most recently, for delaying the launch of its updated claims system from Oct. 1 to November. According to 13NewsNow reporting, some claimants this week have reported that their benefits have been sent elsewhere after their banking account information was changed without their knowledge. VEC pauses payments while investigating potential fraud.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 293,000, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 822,205 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020.

Hampton Roads State of the Region report shows slow recovery

The Hampton Roads region is slowly recovering from pandemic-spurred economic distress but has lost a large chunk of its workforce, according to Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis & Policy’s 2021 State of the Region Report released Tuesday.

Hampton Roads’ labor force and individual employment levels peaked in February 2020, only to be “dashed by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the report. After some ups and downs through 2020, the region’s unemployment rate settled to 4.9% in June 2021, but more than 50,000 people left the region’s labor force. “A declining labor force is not a sign of a robust economic recovery,” wrote the report’s authors, led by Robert McNab, director of the Dragas Center.

Also, the region’s vaccination rate has lagged behind other parts of Virginia, particularly Northern Virginia, and COVID rates rose this year with the highly contagious delta variant.

On June 1, the seven-day rolling average of positive COVID-19 tests fell 95% from its Jan. 20, 2021, peak of 1,437 to only 65 positive results. By the end of June, the average had dropped to 36, but the average rose to 226 by the end of July — after vaccines had been made broadly available in the spring.

The pandemic had disproportionate effects: While Black residents comprised 30% of the region’s population in 2019, they accounted for 33.8% of positive COVID-19 tests, 50.9% of hospitalizations and 44.6% of COVID-19 deaths. According to the study, vaccination rates among Black residents were lower than those of other races for the first eight months of the year, and Black workers were more likely to be in customer-facing jobs that carry more risk of exposure to the virus.

Labor force and unemployment

The civilian labor force and individual employment in Hampton Roads peaked at 874,900 and 852,600 individuals, respectively, in February 2020, but by May 2020, the labor force was 5% smaller than in February, and the individual employment dropped by 12.2%. After a small summer rebound, the region’s recovery plateaued in the fall. At the beginning of 2021, civilian labor force and individual employment were 5% and 8.5% lower than in February 2020.

Although the unemployment rate in Hampton Roads declined from 12.8% in April 2020 to 4.9% last June, the decline is partly due to a reduction in the civilian labor force. From January to June, 5,969 people left the labor force.

Average monthly unemployment claims were 3.4 times higher in 2020 than in 2010 and 13.2 times higher than in 2019. At the peak of continued claims — 88,436 in May 2020 — more than one in 10 workers in Hampton Roads were receiving unemployment benefits. Continued claims are now falling, though they still remained above the pre-pandemic level in the first half of 2021.

Availability of jobs

Jobs in Hampton Roads have been slow to recover from early-pandemic cuts. In February 2020, Hampton Roads bottomed out with 5% fewer jobs than at the worst point following the Great Recession. While there were 33,000 fewer jobs in June 2021 than in June 2019, 84.4% (28,100) of the job losses were concentrated in three sectors: leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and local government. Job growth may pick up as travel and tourism and defense spending increase.

The report estimates that Department of Defense spending in Hampton Roads will reach almost $25 billion in 2021, but it warns that DOD spending might be cut as the department looks to newer weapons systems that are cheaper and quicker to build.

The Port of Virginia proved resilient. Compared to May 2019, loaded 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) export traffic increased by 13.2% in May 2021. Loaded TEU import flows increased by 21.2%.

The full report is here.

Va. new jobless claims increase slightly

Virginia’s new unemployment claims rose about 7% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, following a 300% surge two weeks ago and then declined to more normal levels last week.

For the filing week ending Oct. 2, people filed 9,360 initial claims, an increase of 643 from the week before. Continued claims totaled 44,019, a decrease of 3,222 claims from the previous week.

Compared to the same week last year, initial claims were about 14% lower last week than the 10,843 recorded in the same week last year, and continued claims were 73% lower than a year ago, when the state recorded 160,764 claims.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; retail; accommodations/food service; and professional and technical services. The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

The VEC met its Labor Day deadline on a court order to address a backlog of earlier claims, but other disputed claims built up in that period. The agency has paused its collection of overpayments to unemployed claimants as it sorts through the backlogs of disputed claims and appeals, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Also, WTVR 6 reported that the VEC’s launch of an updated claims system, set for Oct. 1, has now been postponed to November.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 326,000, a decrease of 38,000 from last week’s revised level. There were 723,981 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020.

New jobless claims in Va. surge by 300%

After three weeks of declining unemployment claims statewide, the number of new claims shot up more than 300% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. At the same time, continued claims dropped by more than 3,000 for the filing week ending Sept. 18.

The VEC said in Thursday’s report that the end of federal benefits Sept. 4 could be behind the steep increase in new claims last week, which came after a 38% decrease the previous week. Initial claims totaled 15,962 last week, an increase of 12,140 from the week ending Sept. 11 — the nation’s second-highest increase, after California. Continued claims totaled 37,569 last week, down 3,055 from the previous week.

Initial claims were 50.8% higher last week than the 10,582 new claims filed the week of Sept. 19, 2020, and continued claims were 80% lower last week than the 188,195 continued claims this week last year. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; retail; and accommodations/food service. The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. The city of Roanoke also saw a significant increase in new claims, from 43 the previous week to 269 during the Sept. 18 filing period.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 351,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 815,892 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

Va. new jobless claims drop for third week in a row

Virginia’s new unemployment claims fell for the third week in a row last week, declining by 38%, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

For the filing week ending Sept. 11, the state recorded 3,822 new jobless claims, down 2,357 from the previous week. Continued jobless claims also decreased, down 3,811 claims from the previous week to 40,624.

Compared to the same week last year, initial claims were 62% lower last week than the 10,100 recorded in that week, and continued claims were 80% lower than a year ago, when they totaled 201,616.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits. On Sept. 5, the VEC reinstated the unpaid “waiting week” for unemployment insurance for the first week that a claimant files.

“The latest data shows mostly good news. Initial claims for unemployment benefits in Virginia declined approximately 38% from the previous week,” Dominique Johnson, research associate at Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, said in a statement. “The 3,822 initial claims filed during the week ending Sept. 11 are not far from the 2,236 initial claims filed during the comparable week in 2019 and are less than half of the roughly 10,000 weekly initial claims filed over the last year. In more good news, the number of Virginians receiving some form of benefits also declined from the previous week.”

“As initial claims declined, continued claims also moved downward last week, though the level of continued claims remains twice that of the pre-pandemic average,” Dragas Center Director Robert McNab said in a statement. “The return of children to school and the end of federal expanded unemployment benefits, as well as the need for new claimants to wait a week to receive benefits will all work to push continued claims lower in the coming months. However, continued concerns about the COVID-19 delta variant and the end of the summer season are likely to dampen expectations in the coming weeks. One of the fundamental elements of a robust recovery continues to be vaccinations, as data show that unvaccinated Virginians are hospitalized at a rate 10 to 15 times higher than fully vaccinated Virginians.”

The federal government’s unemployment benefits stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, including the $300 a week supplemental benefit Virginians received via VEC, ended Sept. 4. Also, the federal government’s eviction moratorium ended this month, but Virginia has extended its moratorium to June 2022. According to U.S. Census data, Virginia has delivered more rent relief than any other state, having distributed more than 50% of funds received from the federal government.

Additionally, the deadline for VEC’s federal court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 unemployment claims ended Sept. 7. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ordered the state agency and legal aid groups representing plaintiffs whose claims were delayed to meet before Sept. 25 to create a plan to address further issues.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; retail; and accommodations/food service. The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 332,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 860,000 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

Va. new jobless claims declined again last week

Virginia’s new unemployment claims fell for the second week in a row last week, declining by 20%, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

Continued jobless claims also decreased for the filing week ending Sept. 4, down 2,036 claims from the previous week to total 44,435. Initial claims totaled 6,179, down 1,598 claims from the previous week.

Compared to this week last year, initial claims were 45% lower last week than 11,135 recorded the first week of September 2020, and continued claims were 80% lower than 217,485 claims filed last year. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

Last week’s new jobless claims brought the total number filed since March 21, 2020, to 1,805,058, according to the VEC.

“For the third straight week, initial claims for unemployment benefits are down from the previous week. While the number of initial claims filed are near a pandemic low, they remain nearly three times higher than the level of claims observed during the comparable week in 2019,” Dominique Johnson, research associate at Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, said in a statement Friday. “The number of Virginians receiving some form of benefits also declined from the previous week but remain more than 2.5 times above the pre-pandemic levels observed during the comparable week in 2019. Overall, Virginia’s labor market shows continued improvement. Data for July showed Virginia’s labor force rose for the third straight month and the unemployment rate declined to 4.2%.”

Monday was a turning point for unemployed people nationwide, as the federal government’s unemployment benefits stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic came to an end, including the $300 a week supplemental benefit Virginians received via VEC. Also, the federal government’s eviction moratorium ended this month, but Virginia extended its moratorium to June 2022 in August. According to U.S. Census data, Virginia has delivered more rent relief than any other state, having distributed more than 50% of funds received from the federal government.

“The loss of extended benefits come on the heels of an underwhelming August jobs report as the impact of delta variant on the economy becomes more apparent,” Dragas Center Director Robert McNab said in a statement. “The nation added less than 250,000 jobs in August, nearly a quarter of the number of jobs added the previous month. While some might believe the end of the pandemic unemployment benefits will immediately solve hiring problems, it is important to remember that millions of Americans dropped out of the labor force entirely. There were more than five million fewer individuals in the labor force in August 2021 than in the month before the pandemic, February 2020.”

Also, the deadline for VEC’s federal court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 unemployment claims ended Tuesday. The VEC reported it has resolved more than 91,000 of the claims, and U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ordered the state agency and legal aid groups representing plaintiffs whose claims were delayed to meet before Sept. 25 to create a plan to address further issues.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week in Virginia reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; retail; administrative and waste services; and accommodations/food service. The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 310,000, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 857,896 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

Va. new jobless claims dropped 35% last week

Virginia’s initial unemployment claims decreased about 35% last week since the previous week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

For the filing week ending Aug. 28, the state recorded 7,777 new jobless claims, down 4,146 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 46,471, up 9,396 claims from the previous week.

Compared to the same week last year, continued claims were 80% lower than the 233,467 in that week, while initial claims were about 25% lower than a year ago, when new claims totaled 10,305.

This brought the total number of claims filed since March 21,2020 to 1,789,879, according the VEC.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The VEC has started notifying people who are receiving the benefits that all federal unemployment COVID-19 benefits will come to an end on Sept. 4. That includes the $300 a week supplemental unemployment benefit.

VEC is under court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 cases by Labor Day. The agency had filed for dismissal of the suit, saying it had resolved 98% of the disputed unemployment claims, but U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson declined to dismiss the suit on Tuesday.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; retail; administrative and waste services;, and accommodations/ food service.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads, with the Roanoke valley seeing a slight increase in continued and initial claims last week.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 340,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 827,261 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

 

Va. new jobless claims dropped 28% last week

Virginia’s initial unemployment claims fell 28% last week since the previous week and totaled almost 500 more than the claims in the same week last year, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

For the filing week ending Aug. 21, the state recorded 11,923 new jobless claims, down 4,670 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 37,075, up 1,994 from last week. New jobless claims had risen in the two weeks preceding this one.

Compared to the same week last year, continued claims were 85% lower than the 249,745 claims in that week, while initial claims were about 4.3% higher than a year ago, when new claims totaled 11,436.

This brought the total number of claims filed since March 21, 2020 to 1,791,102 claims, according to the VEC.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The VEC has started notifying people who are receiving the benefits that all federal unemployment COVID-19 benefits will come to an end on Sept. 4. That includes the $300 a week supplemental unemployment benefit.

VEC is under court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 cases by Labor Day, but has filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, saying it has resolved 98% of the disputed unemployment claims.

The majority of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; retail; and accommodations/food service.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 353,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 814,639 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

Va. new jobless claims rose 62% last week

Virginia’s initial unemployment claims rose by 62% last week since the previous week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

For the filing week ending Aug. 14, the state recorded 16,593 new jobless claims, up 6,367 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 35,081, up 3,342 claims from the previous week. This was a break from the recent declining trend.

Compared to the same week last year, continued claims were 87% lower than the 265,225 claims the same week in 2020, while initial claims last were about 9.5% higher than a year ago, when new claims reached 15,151.

Since March 21, 2020, a total of 1,779,179 claims have been filed, according to VEC.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

Last week, the VEC started notifying people who are receiving the benefits that all federal unemployment COVID-19 benefits will come to an end on Sept. 4. That includes the $300 a week supplemental unemployment benefit.

VEC is under court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 cases by Labor Day, but has filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, saying it has resolved 98% of the disputed unemployment claims.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, retail trade and administrative and waste services industries.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 348,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised level, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.

It is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000. Last week’s level was revised from 375,000 to 377,000 and the four-week moving average was 377,500, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised average.

There were 831,251 initial claims in the comparable week last year.

Va. new jobless claims top 10K, a dramatic rise

Virginia’s initial unemployment claims rose by 67% this week, while continued claims continued to decrease, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. The state saw the nation’s second largest increase in initial claims.

For the filing week ending Aug. 7, the state recorded 10,226 new jobless claims, up 4,197 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 31,739, down 221 claims from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year, continued claims were 88% lower than the 264,410 claims the same week in 2020, while initial claims last were about 23% lower than a year ago, when claims reached 13,265.

The Old Dominion University Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy weighed in on the data.

“From mid-May to the end of July, initial claims steadily declined from roughly 10,600 to 6,000. Data for the latest week ending Aug. 7, however, shows an increase of more than 4,000 claims from the previous week, wiping out the declines in initial claims over the last three months,” said Dominique Johnson, research associate at the Dragas Center, in a statement.

She cited the recent surge in cases as a threat.

“We caution against making any firm conclusions about the direction of the recovery until there are several weeks of sustained decreases or increases in the initial claims data,” Johnson said. “The recent increase in COVID-19 cases in Virginia is unwelcome news and potentially threatens the pace of the recovery.”

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

VEC is under court order to get through a backlog of 92,000 cases by Labor Day, but has filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, saying it has resolved 98% of the disputed unemployment claims.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: health care and social assistance; administrative and waste services; accommodations/food service; and retail.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.

“The increase in initial claims in Hampton Roads undermines the progress of the previous months in returning to a pre-pandemic labor market,” said Robert McNab, director of the Dragas Center, in a statement.

“Typically, employment peaks in the summer months and starts to decline in the fall. If the rise of the delta variant has undermined consumer confidence, the seasonal decline in employment may arrive early and be sharper than in previous years. Vaccine hesitance and hostility continue to pose a challenge in increasing vaccination rates across Hampton Roads and Virginia and threaten the continued recovery from the pandemic.”

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 375,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week’s revised level. There were 831,251 initial claims in the comparable week last year.