Alexandria’s continued drop in initial (first-time) unemployment claims took a sharp turn over the new year.

The Virginia Employment Commission reports that here were 300 initial claims for the week ending Jan. 2, a 129% increase over the previous week’s total of 131 claims. That’s the most initial claims in the city since the week ending Aug. 1, which saw 336 initial claims.

Statewide, there was a 64% jump in initial unemployment claims, which VEC partially attributes to “seasonal spikes in layoffs often seen after the holidays.”

The week ending Jan. 2 is the 42nd week since the COVID-19 crisis began in Virginia.

Alexandria’s continued claims are still going down. There were 1,119 continued claims for the week ending Jan. 2, a 4% decrease from the previous week’s total of 1,167 claims.

Statewide, There were also 63,588 continued claims, which is a modest increase decrease over the previous week, but 41,417 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.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Norfolk City which saw 1,067 initial filings. Virginia Beach City and Fairfax County followed with 1,043 and 928 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 118 localities saw an increase in the number of filings this week compared to the week before. The locality with the largest increase was Norfolk City which had 521 more initial claims compared to the previous week.

You can also learn more about filing a weekly or continued claim here.