Virginia’s Latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims Up at 4,036; Continued Claims at 17,681

RICHMOND— Virginia Works announced today that 4,036 unemployment insurance weekly initial claims were filed during the week ending March 08, 2025, which is 40.1 percent higher than last week’s 2,881 claims and 81.1 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (2,229).  Nearly 66 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (69 percent) were Manufacturing (619); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (509); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (256); Retail Trade (214); and Health Care and Social Assistance (200).

Continued weeks claims (17,681) were 0.1 percent higher than last week (17,671) and were 13.1 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (15,629). Nearly 92 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (58 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (2,881); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (2,074); Health Care and Social Assistance (1,505); Construction (1,482); and Manufacturing (1,463).

Significant Layoffs and Announcements are available at the following websites:

WARN Notices | Virginia Works

Announcements | Virginia Economic Development Partnership

***Due to technical issues, the Virginia map, typically found on page 3, is currently unavailable.***

Initial Claims for All States

In the week ending March 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 220,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 221,000 to 222,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 212,817 in the week ending March 8, a decrease of 13,202 (or 5.8 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 10,890 (or 4.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 202,722 initial claims in the comparable week in 2024. 

***The Virginia numbers noted here do not account for 566 claims which are Unemployment Compensation

for Federal Employees (UCFE) and Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers claims and

transitional claims.***

All States Initial Weeks Claimed

An initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The count of U.S. initial claims

for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions

in the country.

Below is a color-coded map illustrating the percentage change in initial claims from last week to this week across all states nationwide, derived from the latest U.S Department of Labor Weekly Claims News Release (https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf). Green denotes a reduction in continued claims from last week, thus showing improvement, with progressively darker shades

of green signifying greater improvement. Purple denotes an increase in continued claims from last week, thus showing deterioration, with progressively darker shades of purple signifying greater deterioration. Very light green, purple or white indicates minimal change from last week. The legend at the bottom provides the color spectrum along with its corresponding percentage value.

All States Initial Weeks Claimed

An initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The count of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions in the country.

Below is a color-coded map illustrating the percentage change in initial claims from last week to this week across all states nationwide, derived from the latest U.S Department of Labor Weekly Claims News Release (https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf). Green denotes a reduction in continued claims from last week, thus showing improvement, with progressively darker shades of green signifying greater improvement. Purple denotes an increase in continued claims from last week, thus showing deterioration, with progressively darker shades of purple signifying greater deterioration. Very light green, purple or white indicates minimal change from last week. The legend at the bottom provides the color spectrum along with its corresponding percentage value.