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Big drop in new unemployment claims in Virginia in past week

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virginia economy
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Initial claims were down 82.5 percent in Virginia over the past week, to 5,034 for the filing week ending April 10.

The latest claims figure was a decrease of 23,492 claimants from the previous week, which had seen new claims consistent with a several-week trend.

This brought the total number of claims filed since the March 27, 2020 filing week to 1,587,729, according to a report from the Virginia Employment Commission released today.

This is more than three times the 477,600 average filed during the previous three economic recessions since 1990.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 57,371, which was unchanged from the previous week, but 179,420 lower than the 236,791 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade, and healthcare/social assistance industries. 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.

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