Va. jobless claims up 173% from last week

For the April 13-17 filing week, 13,751 Virginians submitted initial unemployment claims, a 173% increase from the previous week, but an 83% decrease from this time a year ago when jobless claims were near a peak during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week’s new claims rose by 8,717 compared to those from the week ending April 10, when 5,034 people filed, according to the Virginia Employment Commission’s Thursday report.

The number of continued claims filed last week — 55,273 — dropped by 2,098 from the previous week. This week a year ago, 297,993 continued claims were filed, 82% higher than last week. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week (and the prior four weeks) reported being in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade and health care and social assistance industries, according to the VEC.

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

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending April 17:

• Fairfax County, 890
• Virginia Beach, 654
• Prince William County, 646
• Richmond, 646
• Norfolk, 606
• Alexandria, 504
• Loudoun County, 363
• Portsmouth, 363
• Newport News, 334
• Henrico County, 323

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 547,000, a decrease of 39,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 4,221,556 initial claims during the same week last year.