More than 300,000 Virginians file for unemployment in three weeks as unemployment rate hits 10 percent

NORFOLK, Va. — About 10 percent of the local, state and national workforce is now unemployed as coronavirus-related layoffs and furloughs continue to decimate the job market.

More than 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment in the most recent reported week, including 149,758 people in Virginia and 137,5573 people in North Carolina.

“We’re running out of adjectives. How many weeks in a row can we say historic, unprecedented, shocking?" said ODU economics professor Robert Mcnab.

Mcnab said the speed of development of the current recession is unparalleled in American history.

“We’ve seen more Virginians file for unemployment in three weeks than we did in the entire great recession which was 18 months," Mcnab said. "So you can imagine what it’s like to essentially pack an entire recession into a month.”

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State unemployment agencies are overwhelmed, trying to keep up with the applications for benefits.

“I personally can’t fault states for struggling to process hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of unemployment insurance claims, because we’ve never seen this before," Mcnab said.  "It’s the equivalent of a moon landing.”

Between March 15 and April 4, the U.S. Department of Labor reports more than 16.8 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment insurance. More than 300,000 Virginians filed for UI during this three-week stretch.

Mcnab said he expects a million more layoffs and unemployment claims to be reported next week. He said the Hampton Roads hospitality, food-service and trade industries are hardest hit.

However, Mcnab said curbing a growing unemployment rate depends on how quickly everyone can contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“It’s a tough policy place to be in because you know if you relax social distancing too early the economic pain is going to be much worse than if you relax it too late," he said.

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