Va. weekly initial jobless claims increase by 15%

The number of weekly initial jobless claims in Virginia increased by 15% last week, but the number of weekly continuing unemployment claims dropped by 7.5%, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. 

For the week ending Oct. 3, 10,843 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, up from 9,377 the previous week. Last week, 160,764 Virginians filed continuing unemployment claims, a 7.5% decrease from the previous week. However, that was still nearly 10 times larger than the same period in 2019, when the VEC reported 16,840 continued unemployment claims. (People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.)

However, overall claim volumes are continuing a downward trend compared with April’s peak, according to the VEC.

“[Continued claims] have declined at a consistent pace since mid-August — around 6.9% a week,” according to the VEC. “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 Oct. 3:

• Richmond, 667
• Fairfax County, 642
• Virginia Beach, 511
• Prince William County, 492
• Norfolk, 489
• Henrico County, 258
• Chesterfield County, 253
• Portsmouth, 229
• Loudoun, 223
• Chesapeake, 215

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for last week was 840,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 188,106 initial claims during the same week last year.

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