RICHMOND— Virginia Works announced today that 1,904, Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims were filed, which is 14.6 percent lower than last week's 2,229 claims and 17.3 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (1,623).  Nearly 80 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (60 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (223); Manufacturing (208); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (177); Health Care and Social Assistance (157); and Accommodation and Food Services (136).

Continued weeks claims (15,612) were 0.1 percent lower than last week (15,629), and were 32.5 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (11,781). Nearly 93 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (56 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (2,163); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (2,122); Construction (1,335); Manufacturing (1,300); and Health Care and Social Assistance (1,286).

Significant Layoffs and Announcements are available at the following websites:

WARN Notices | Virginia Employment Commission

Announcements | Virginia Economic Development Partnership

Virginia Continued Weeks Claimed

Initial State Claims Nationwide

In the week ending March 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 210,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 209,000 to 212,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 189,992 in the week ending March 16, a decrease of 12,730 (or  6.3 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 11,015 (or  5.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 204,021 initial claims in the comparable week in 2023.