New unemployment claims in Virginia were down again last week, and continued claims are also trending downward.
Both are good signs of recovery as the Commonwealth claws its way out of the economic slump that came from the COVID-19 shutdown.
Initial claims were at 25,293 for the week ending June 20, a decrease of 1,893 claimants from the previous week, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
The weekly total was the lowest since before the initial spike in unemployment insurance claims during the March 21 filing week.
For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totalled 375,579, down 11,314 from the previous week, but 355,910 higher than the 19,669 continued claims from the comparable week last year.
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. Continued claims during the June 20 filing week equalled 43 percent of all initial claims filed during the pandemic to this point. This percentage has trended downward in recent weeks.
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AFP
