Alexandria’s Continued Unemployment Claims Climb 10%, Initial Claims Drop

Alexandria’s continued claims for unemployment jumped 10% for the week ending Jan. 23, as the number of initial (first-time) claims continue to drop after a surge just weeks ago.

The Virginia Employment Commission reports that there were 1,231 continued claims for the week ending Jan. 23, an increase from the previous week’s total of 1,120 claims. The number of continued claims has remained relatively steady over the last month-and-a-half, as the week ending Dec. 19 saw 1,223 continued claims.

Initial claims for unemployment fell to 468 for the week ending Jan. 23, a 26% drop over the previous week’s total of 632 claims. The week ending Jan. 9 saw the most initial claims in recent months, with 836 claims filed.

The week ending Jan. 23 is the 45th week since the COVID-19 crisis began in Virginia.

Statewide, the week ending Jan. 23 marked the second straight week that initial claims fell — the first time that’s happened since October. There were 18,312 initial unemployment benefit claims for that week, a decrease of 13% compared to the previous week.

There were also 67,298 continued claims across Virginia, which was a 5.4% increase from the previous week, but “45,637 higher than the 21,661 continued claims from the comparable week last year,” according to VEC.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Fairfax County which saw 952 initial filings. Richmond City and Norfolk City followed with 907 and 866 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 107 localities saw either a decrease or no change in the number of filings this week compared to the week before. The locality with the largest decrease was Richmond County which had 198 fewer initial claims compared to the previous week.

Looking for work? The Alexandria Workforce Development Center hosts weekly workshops, and there are a number of job openings with the city.

Learn more about filing a weekly or continued claim here.