Seasonally unadjusted weekly initial unemployment insurance claims fell significantly from the previous filing week as continued claims broke from its recent declining trend—

RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims filed during the most recent filing week were 4.3% higher than during the comparable week in 2020.

For the filing week ending August 21, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 11,923. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 4,670 claimants from the previous week. This brought the total number of claims filed since the March 21, 2020 filing week to 1,791,102, compared to the 477,600 average filed during the previous three economic recessions since 1990.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 37,075, which was an increase of 1,994 claims from the previous week, but 85% lower than the 249,745 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the health care and social assistance, administrative and waste services industries, retail trade, and accommodation and food services. The continued claims total is mainly comprised of those recent initial claimants who continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For additional information on who is claiming unemployment insurance in Virginia, access the VEC’s U.I. claims data dashboard (https://www.vec.virginia.gov/ui-claims-dashboard) that is updated no later than the following Monday after the weekly claims press release.

Nationwide, in the week ending August 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 353,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 348,000 to 349,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 297,765 in the week ending August 21, a decrease of 11,699 (or -3.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 814,639 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. Looking at preliminary data, more states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (-7,056) was the largest decrease. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-3,903) was the second largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-3,896) was the third largest decrease. Georgia’s decline was the fourth largest increase (-2,221). Maryland’s jump (+3,618) was the largest weekly increase.