Initial jobless claims dropped 16.2% last week

Continued claims three-quarters lower than May peak

Published November 5, 2020 by Sydney Lake

The number of initial jobless claims in Virginia dropped by 16.2% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, and the number of continued claims was three-quarters lower than its May 16 filing week peak.

For the week ending Oct. 31, 10,350 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, a decrease of 2,002 from the previous week.

Last week, 99,711 Virginians remained unemployed, a 21.9% decrease from the previous week, but 82,426 higher than the 17,285 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 was the largest percentage drop since the May 16 filing week peak and 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. 31:

Fairfax County, 638
Prince William County, 577
Virginia Beach, 548
Richmond, 513
Norfolk, 499
Chesterfield County, 285
Henrico County, 251
Newport News, 239
Chesapeake, 203
Portsmouth, 201

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for last week was 751,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 205,625 initial claims during the same week last year.