Va. saw initial jobless claims drop again last week

More than 142K remain unemployed, however

Published October 15, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Virginia continued to see a small decline in the number of initial jobless claims last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, and the number of continued claims filed during the week ending Oct. 10 was nearly two thirds lower than its May 16 peak.

For the week ending Oct. 10, 9,110 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, a decrease of 1,733 from the previous week, continuing the overall trend of lower claims volumes seen in recent months following April’s peak, according to the VEC.

Last week, 142,220 Virginians remained unemployed. This is an 11.5% decrease from the previous week, but 125,354 higher than the 16,866 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 an acceleration 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. 10:

• Fairfax County, 616
• Prince William County, 582
• Virginia Beach, 494
• Richmond, 456
• Norfolk, 360
• Chesterfield County, 235
• Newport News, 192
• Henrico County, 191
• Loudoun County, 178
• Portsmouth, 177

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for last week was 898,000, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 201,677 initial claims during the same week last year.

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