For Release:
February 6, 2025
Contact:
Virginia Works
Economic Information & Analytics Division
LMI@virginiaworks.gov
(804) 786-7496

Virginia’s Latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims Up at 2,606; Continued Claims at 17,201

  • Virginia’s Latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims Up at 2,606; Continued Claims at 17,201

    RICHMOND— Virginia Works announced today that 2,606 unemployment insurance weekly initial claims were filed during the week ending February 01, 2025, which is 3.3 percent higher than last week’s 2,522 claims and 2.8 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (2,536). 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 (324); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (252); Health Care and Social Assistance (244); Retail Trade (189); and Construction (169).


    Continued weeks claims
    (17,201) were virtually unchanged since last week (17,203) and were 14.8 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (14,987). Nearly 92 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (57 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (2,418); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (2,124); Construction (1,625); Health Care and Social Assistance (1,433); and Manufacturing (1,389).

    Significant Layoffs and Announcements are available at the following websites:

    WARN Notices | Virginia Works

    Announcements | Virginia Economic Development Partnership

    Initial Claims – Comparison of Unemployment Insurance Activity

    Week Ending

    02/01/2025
    Week Ending

    01/25/2025
    Week Ending

    01/18/2025
    Last Year

    02/03/2024
    Initial Claims2,6062,5222,8582,536
    Initial Change (%)+84 (+3.3%)-336 (-11.8%)-549 (-16.1%)+70 (+2.8%)
    Continued Claims17,20117,20317,16114,987


    Virginia Continued Weeks Claimed

    A person who has already filed an initial claim and who has experienced a week of unemployment files a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment. On a weekly basis, continued claims reflect a good approximation of the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for UI benefits, and are a good indicator of labor market conditions. While continued claims are not a leading indicator, they provide confirming evidence of the direction of the economy.

    The color-coded map below shows the distribution of this week’s continued claims for Virginia’s counties and cities.

    Yellow represents low numbers, while progressively darker shades transitioning from yellow to green and dark green signify increasing numbers of continued claims. The legend located at the bottom provides the color spectrum and its corresponding count of continued claims.


    Initial Claims for All States


    In the week ending February 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 219,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 207,000 to 208,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 239,690 in the week ending February 1, an increase of 11,370 (or 5.0 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 208 (or 0.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 234,729 initial claims in the comparable week in 2024.

    Initial State Claims (5 largest decreases)
    (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
    StateInitial Claims (this week)Initial Claims (prior week)Change
    New Jersey10,31311,656-1,343
    Massachusetts5,7046,601-897
    Michigan7,8668,425-559
    Kentucky1,7632,175-412
    Missouri3,7584,155-397
    Initial State Claims (5 largest increases)
    (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
    StateInitial Claims (this week)Initial Claims (prior week)Change
    New York19,29015,1984,092
    California49,96545,9663,999
    Georgia5,5334,679854
    Wisconsin6,3755,526849
    Kansas2,4161,614802

    All States Initial Weeks Claimed


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