RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims fell toward more typical levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending January 8, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,446. The latest claims figure was an increase of 633 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in construction, administrative and waste services, accommodation and food services, and health care and social assistance 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 7,895, which was a decrease of 3,367 claims from the previous week and 88% lower than the 63,687 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 January 8, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 230,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 207,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 419,446 in the week ending January 8, an increase of 103,693 (or 32.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 1,082,696 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (+12,795) was the largest increase. New York’s preliminary weekly change (+10,752) was the second largest increase. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (+9,402) was the third largest increase. Kentucky’s weekly change (+8,450) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+858) was the 27th largest increase.