Alexandria’s initial (first time) and continued unemployment claims rose for the week ending Feb. 27.

Initial claims rose 9%, with 274 claims for the week ending Feb. 27, Virginia Employment Commission. Initial claims peaked this year at 836 for the week ending Jan. 9 and reached their lowest point at 251 claims for the week ending Feb. 20.

There were also 1,365 continued claims for the week ending Feb. 20, a 4% increase from the 1,311 continued claims reported the previous week.

The week ending Feb. 27 is the 50th week since the coronavirus pandemic began in Virginia.

Statewide, initial claims increased slightly to 12,155 for the week ending Feb. 20, a 2% increase of 211 claims over the previous week. Continued weeks claims fell 1% to 63,998.

“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 Richmond City which saw 589 initial filings. Virginia Beach City and Fairfax County followed with 517 and 506 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 67 localities saw either a decrease or no change in the number of filings this week compared to the week before. On the contrary, 66 localities saw an increase in initial claims, week over week. The locality with the largest change was Richmond City which had an additional 84 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.