Alexandria’s Continued Unemployment Claims Fall to Lowest Level Since April

Unemployment dropped just in time for the holidays in Alexandria, as the city’s continued claims fell to their lowest level since April.

The figures from the Virginia Employment Commission reveal that there were 1,223 continued claims for the week ending Dec. 19, a 15% drop from the previous week’s total of 1,442 continued claims. That’s the lowest number of continued claims since the week ending April 4, which saw 1,710 claims.

This year, Alexandria saw its most continued claims on the week ending June 6, with 6,751 claims.

The week ending Dec. 19 was the 40th week since the pandemic began in Virginia.

Initial (first-time) claims also fell to 164 in Alexandria for the week ending Dec. 19, a 29% drop over the previous week’s total of 230 claims.

Statewide, there were 14,640 initial claims for the week ending Dec. 19, which was an increase of 131 claimants over the previous week. There were also 67,648 continued claims, which was less than a 1% increase over the previous week, but 48,041 claims higher than the same period last year.

Looking for work? The Alexandria Workforce Development Center hosts weekly workshops, and there are a number of job openings with the city. You can also learn more about filing a weekly or continued claim here.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Fairfax County which saw 1,000 initial filings. Virginia Beach City and Norfolk City followed with 850 and 728 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 79 localities saw a decrease, or no change, in the number of filings this week compared to the week before. The locality with the largest decrease was Prince William County which had 101 fewer initial claims compared to the previous week.