Alexandria’s Initial unemployment claims drop, continued claims rise

Alexandria’s initial (first time) unemployment claims keep falling, and continued claims rose 16% for the week ending May 8.

There were just 277 initial claims for the week ending Mat 1, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. That’s a far cry from the 1,498 initial claims listed on April 24, and the 1,806 initial claims for the week ending April 3.

While the number of new claims is dropping, the continued claims for unemployment are rising. For the week ending May 8, continued claims rose to 1,652, an increase of 231 claims (16%) over the previous week.

The week ending May 8 is the 60th since the pandemic began in Virginia. Statewide, initial claims in Virginia fell to 11,270, a decrease of 961 claimants. Continued claims were 57,844, which was an increase of 2,649 from 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.

According to VEC:

The locality with the most initial unemployment claims this week was Fairfax County which saw 637 initial filings. Norfolk City and Richmond City followed with 484 and 470 initial claims respectively. Of the 133 counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth, 90 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 Fairfax County which had 109 fewer initial claims compared to the prior week. There were 11 different localities which saw no change in the number of claims week over week.