Henrico's unemployment claims drop 14 percent from previous week

For the second straight week, the number of Henrico citizens who filed for unemployment dropped, but almost 19,000 – 10 percent of the county’s workforce – now have done so since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Henrico’s unemployment rate – which was less than 2.5 percent just two months ago – is now approaching 13 percent, with about 24,000 people looking for jobs.

Data released today by the Virginia Employment Commission for the week of April 12-18 showed that 3,289 Henricoans filed for unemployment during that period, down about 14 percent from the previous week, when 3,827 filed.

Overall, 18,943 county residents have filed during the past five weeks on record, according to the VEC.

Statewide, nearly 83,000 people filed last week, down about 21 percent from the previous week’s total.

Job loss in Henrico and statewide peaked during the week of March 29 to April 4, when most localities reported the highest number of residents filing for unemployment. (In Henrico, the total that week was 5,720.) The following week, the number of new filers dropped by one-third.

All but 11 of the state’s 133 localities witnessed a decline in unemployment filings during the most recent week on record. Of those 11 – mostly small cities and counties – two saw the same number of filings as the previous week, while nine saw minuscule increases. All but seven state localities witnessed a decrease during the previous week of filings.

In February, Henrico’s labor force was nearly 187,000, and more than 182,000 of those residents were employed (an unemployment rate of just 2.4 percent).

Among Virginia localities, Henrico had the fifth-most filers during the most recent week and overall has the sixth-highest total since the pandemic began.