Slight uptick in new Virginia unemployment claims

For the filing week ending March 26, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial unemployment claims in Virginia was 1,627, an increase of 81 claimants from the previous week.

Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in administrative and waste services, retail trade, professional, scientific, and technical services, and health care and social assistance.

Eligibility for benefits is determined on a weekly basis, and so not all weekly claims filed result in a benefit payment. This is because the initial claims numbers represent claim applications; claims are then reviewed for eligibility and legitimacy.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 6,684, which was a decrease of 270 claims from the previous week and was 88 percent lower than the 57,072 continued claims from the comparable week last year.