VA Weekly Unemployment Claims Lowest Since March Spike

VIRGINIA — An estimated 39,242 Virginians filed for first-time unemployment benefits for the week ending May 23 — a decrease of 5,457 claims filed the previous week. In the District of Columbia, the number of initial unemployment claims totaled 5,123 last week, down from 5,196 new claims for the week ending May 16.

Last week's unemployment claims were the lowest they have been since initial spike in claims during the March 21 filing week, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The total number of claims filed since March were over 100,000 more than were filed during the Great Recession.

Although the number of initial claims for unemployment are decreasing, the number of Virginia residents who have continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits reached 402,926 last week.

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Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims accounted for 12,705 of last week's unemployment claims. PUA is a provision within the CARES Act that provides unemployment insurance benefits to those who are not covered by the traditional Virginia state unemployment insurance program.

Nationwide, workers filed more than 2.1 million unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. This is a decrease of 323,000 from the previous week's claims.

The latest national numbers reflect a four-week moving average of 2,608,000. This is a decrease of 436,000 from the previous week.

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