Fewer than 8,000 Henrico residents are continuing to file unemployment claims

The number of first-time unemployment claims in Henrico County remained relatively stable for the fourth consecutive week, according to data released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission.

A total of 263 people filed initial claims during the week of Sept. 6-12, up from 257 the previous week. New filings in the county have fluctuated between 239 and 274 during the past four reporting weeks.

Since the pandemic began in mid-March, a total of 39,713 Henrico residents have filed initial unemployment claims, but as of the most recent reporting week, only 7,871 of them were still filing claims.

The number of continuing claims in the county has fallen for four straight weeks – from nearly 10,500 to its current number, the lowest it’s been since the week ending April 4. That number ranks Henrico seventh statewide in continuing claims, four spots below Richmond and just slightly ahead of Chesterfield.

Henrico is eighth in the number of first-time claims filed since the pandemic began, trailing Chesterfield by just 112 claims.