New Virginia unemployment claims down slightly over past week

For the filing week ending July 24, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial unemployment claims in Virginia was 6,178, a decrease of 126 claimants from the previous week.

This brought the total number of claims filed since the March 21, 2020 filing week to 1,746,331, compared to the 477,600 average filed during the previous three economic recessions since 1990.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 33,603, which was a decrease of 1,599 claims from the previous week, and 90 percent lower than the 344,826 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

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