For the filing week ending May 15, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial unemployment claims in Virginia was 10,642. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 628 claimants from the previous week.
This brought the total number of claims filed since the March 21, 2020 filing week to 1,672,979, 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 60,413, which was an increase of 2,569 claims from the previous week, but 85 percent lower than the 403,557 continued claims from the comparable week last year.
Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the accommodation and food services, retail trade, administrative and waste services, and health care and 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.