House Speaker Aligns Rise In Unemployment Claims With Fed Cuts

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

After Virginia unemployment claims increased by 40 percent in the first full week of March, House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) said it shows the federal cuts are having a devastating impact on Virginians.

Virginia’s Department of Workforce Development and Advancement records show that in the first full week of March, 4,036 new unemployment claims were filed in Virginia — a 40 percent increase over the previous week and an 81 percent increase over the same time last year. Federal workers filed 566 of those 4,036 new claims through the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program.

Scott said the new unemployment numbers illustrate the impact. “We know where the pain is coming from. It’s coming from Trump and Elon Musk,”  he said in a recent WRIC-News interview.

“To see people championing and laughing and using props like chainsaws when they are hurting real people, their families, their children, that’s a shame,” Scott said.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said, “We are not seeing a skyrocketing, but of course what we are recognizing is that there are some federal employees who are filing for unemployment benefits.”

His administration reports it is working to help fired federal workers find new jobs in Virginia.

“We are going to be running these Virginia Has Jobs initiatives all over the commonwealth, but we are going to be spending a particular amount of time in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia where most of our federal workers are,” Youngkin said.

On March 5, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he would be introducing legislation that aims to reinstate veterans who were fired in federal layoffs. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced it was undergoing an “aggressive” reorganization that included cutting 80,000 employees from the agency.