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Continued Unemployment Claims Down 19% in Alexandria

The number of continued claims for unemployment in Alexandria took a large dip for the week ending October 17, with 538 fewer continued claims than the previous week.

For the week ending October 17, the city had 2,353 continued claims, which was down 19% from the previous week’s 2,891 continued claims. There were also 2,885 continued claims for the week ending October 3; 3,282 continued claims for the week ending Sept. 26; 3,053 claims for the week ending Sept. 19 and 4,036 continued claims for the week ending Sept. 12.

The week ending October 17 is the 31st week since the pandemic began in Virginia.

There were 163 initial claims for the week ending October 17, which is an increase of 38 claims over the previous week. There were also 139 initial claims for the week ending October 3; 107 initial claims for the week ending Sept. 26; 125 initial claims for the week ending Sept. 19; 120 initial claims for the week ending Sept. 12 and 155 initial claims for the week ending Sept. 5.

Throughout Virginia there were 11,365 initial claims, a 25% increase, for the week ending October 17. That makes it the largest week of initial claims since August 22, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. There were also 129,300 continued claims, a 9.1% decrease, from the previous week.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Prince William County which saw 964 initial filings. Richmond City and Fairfax County followed with 760 and 736 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 98 localities saw an increase in the number of filings compared to the week before. The locality with the largest increase in claims was Prince William County which had an additional 372 initial claims compared to the previous week.

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.