More than 100k Virginians filed for unemployment last week
However, this is a 30% decrease in claims from the week of April 4.
Published
More than 100,000 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment last week, according to a news release Thursday afternoon from the Virginia Unemployment Commission.
During the week that ended on April 11, Virginia saw 104,619 workers file for unemployment, bringing the most recent four-week total to 410,762. If 67,000 more Virginians file initial claims for unemployment, it will match the total number of initial unemployment claims filed during the last three economic recessions, according to the VEC.
But the numbers also marks a 30% decline in jobless claims compared with the previous week. “The 30% decrease indicates that initial claims volumes may have peaked during the April 4 filing week, following its dizzying ascent in late March,” the VEC says.
More than 5.2 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, a 1.37 million decrease from the previous week. Most states showed decreases in the week that ended April 9, with only nine states reporting increases, according to the VEC.
National data also shows that during the week ending April 4, Virginia had the fifth-largest increase in initial claims, another indicator that unemployment could have peaked that week. Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Texas saw some of the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 4.
The lodging and food services industries still remain the hardest-hit. Retail, health care, younger workers and female workers have also been disproportionately impacted, the VEC says.
The regions of the state that have been most impacted are Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.
Here are the top 10 localities, listed by number of unemployment claims for the week ending April 11. The previous week’s claims are in parentheses.
- Fairfax County, 14,454 (21,302)
- Prince William County, 6,353 (9,178)
- Virginia Beach, 5,886 (8,754)
- Loudoun County, 4,799 (7,070)
- Chesterfield County, 3,919 (5,720)
- Richmond, 3,291 (4,740)
- Norfolk, 2,939 (4,190)
- Chesapeake, 2,597 (3,702)
- Newport News 2,577 (3,667)
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