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.