Va. sees small increase in initial jobless claims last week

Virginia saw a marginal increase in the number of initial jobless claims last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, but continued the trend of lower claims volumes seen in recent months following the peak in April.

For the week ending Sept. 19, 10,582 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 482 from the previous week — but five times higher than the comparable week last year, according to the VEC. 

Last week, 188,195 Virginians remained unemployed. This is a 6.7% decrease from the previous week, but 170,944 higher than the 17,251 continued claims from the same period last year. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

“[Continued claims] have declined at a consistent pace since mid-August — around 6.6% a week,” according to the VEC statement. “The continued claims total is mainly comprised of those recent initial claimants who continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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 Sept. 19:

• Fairfax County, 656
• Virginia Beach, 521
• Norfolk, 515
• Richmond, 435
• Prince William County, 434
• Chesterfield County, 283
• Henrico County, 278
• Portsmouth, 271
• Chesapeake, 254
• Newport News, 240

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for last week was 870,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 175,394 initial claims during the same week last year.

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