Initial Unemployment Claims Falling in Alexandria

The number of Alexandria’s initial claims (first time claims) went down for the week ending Feb. 20, although continued claims continue to fluctuate.

Initial (first time) claims fell 28% to their lowest of the year, with 251 claims for the week ending Feb. 20, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. Initial claims peaked this year at 836 for the week ending Jan. 9.

There were also 1,311 continued claims for the week ending Feb. 20, a slight increase from the 1,275 continued claims reported the previous week.

The week ending Feb. 20 is the 49th week since the coronavirus pandemic began in Virginia.

Statewide, initial claims fell to 11,944 for the week ending Feb. 20, a decrease of 2,957 claims from the week before. That’s a nearly 20% decrease. Continued weeks claims rose 3% to 64,575.

“We have seen a decrease in weekly initial claims in five out of the last six weeks,” VEC noted. “Overall, initial claims numbers have decreased 57.7% from the previous peak of 28,227 initial claims in the week ending January 9, 2021.”

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Virginia Beach City which saw 511 initial filings. Richmond City and Norfolk City followed with 505 and 480 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 117 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 City which had 179 fewer initial claims compared to the prior 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.