RICHMOND— Virginia Works announced today that 2,098 unemployment insurance weekly initial claims were filed during the week ending March 23, 2024, which is 10.2 percent higher than last week's 1,904 claims and 11.8 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (1,876).  Nearly 84 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (61 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (275); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (229); Health Care and Social Assistance (183); Manufacturing (167); and Retail Trade (152).

Continued weeks claims (15,497) were 0.7 percent lower than last week (15,612) and were 31.8 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (11,758). 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 (2,227); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (2,084); Manufacturing (1,297); Health Care and Social Assistance (1,290); and Construction (1,226).

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 Claims for all States

In the week ending March 23, 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 2,000 from 210,000 to 212,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 191,485 in the week ending March 23, a decrease of 287 (or  0.1 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 1,907 (or 1.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 214,153 initial claims in the comparable week in 2023.