Va. initial jobless claims jumped nearly 25% last week

More than 112K Virginians remain unemployed

Published October 22, 2020 by Sydney Lake

The number of initial jobless claims in Virginia rose by 24.75% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.

For the week ending Oct. 17, 11,365 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 2,255 from the previous week, according to the VEC. And the number of initial claims filed during the week ending Oct. 17 was more than five times the number filed during the same week last year. Continued claims dropped by 9.1%, however.

Last week, 129,300 Virginians remained unemployed. This is still 112,532 higher than the 16,768 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.

“This drop indicated a continuation of its recent declining trend,” 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. 17:

Prince William County, 957
Richmond, 749
Fairfax County, 715
Virginia Beach, 702
Norfolk, 491
Chesterfield County, 308
Henrico County, 269
Newport News, 262
Chesapeake, 238
Loudoun County, 219

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for last week was 787,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 186,748 initial claims during the same week last year.