New Virginia unemployment claims up this past week

For the filing week ending Aug. 7, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial unemployment claims in Virginia was 10,226, an increase of 4,197 claimants from the previous week.

This brought the total number of claims filed since the March 21, 2020 filing week to 1,762,586, 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 31,739, which was a decrease of 221 claims from the previous week, and 88 percent lower than the 264,410 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.