RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims was little changed during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending December 11th—amid processing system changes over the last month—the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 3,310. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 140 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in the health care and social assistance industries, administrative and waste services, retail trade, and accommodation and food services industries. Eligibility for benefits is determined on a weekly basis, and so not all weekly claims filed result in a benefit payment. This is because the initial claims numbers represent claim applications; claims are then reviewed for eligibility and legitimacy.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 38,389, which was an increase of 23,791 claims from the previous week and 44% lower than the 68,019 continued claims from the comparable week last year. 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.

In the week ending December 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was s 206,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 4,000 from 184,000 to 188,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 267,509 in the week ending December 11, a decrease of 16,426 (or -5.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 928,634 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. Looking at preliminary data, more states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-8,142) was the largest decrease. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-4,689) was the second largest decrease. North Carolina’s preliminary weekly change (-4,489) was the third largest decrease. Wisconsin’s weekly change (-3,108) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+3,111) was the third largest increase.