Alexandria’s initial unemployment claims drop significantly, continued claims rise 20%

Alexandria’s initial (first-time) unemployment claims fell 90%, and continued claims rose 19% for the week ending April 10.

There were just 184 initial claims for the week ending April 10, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. That’s a 90% dip in the number of claims from the week ending April 3, which saw 1,806 initial claims.

Still, those initial claims are turning into continued claims, which increased to 1,604 for the week ending April 10. The previous week ending on April 3 saw 1,348 claims.

The week ending April 10 is the 56th since the pandemic began in Virginia. Statewide, initial claims in Virginia rose 13% to 17,560, and continued claims fell 3% to 58,233.

Statewide, there were 5,034 initial claims this week, an 82.4% decrease. Continued claims were about the same, with 57,371 reported.

“This is the fewest weekly initial claims since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in the week ending March 21st,” VEC said.

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.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Fairfax County which saw 328 initial filings. Richmond City and Virginia Beach City followed with 263 and 256 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, all 133 saw a decrease in the number of filings this week compared to the week before. The locality with the largest change was Alexandria City which had 1,624 fewer initial claims compared to the prior week.