RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims was little changed, remaining at pre-pandemic levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending February 19, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,610. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 363 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in administrative and waste services, health care and social assistance, retail trade, professional and technical services, and manufacturing. 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 7,258, which was an increase of 20 claims from the previous week and 89% lower than the 64,575 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 February 19, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 248,000 to 249,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 214,873 in the week ending February 19, a decrease of 24,824 (or -10.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 716,559 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Missouri’s preliminary weekly change (-6,946) was the largest decrease. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-2,990) was the second largest decrease. Ohio’s preliminary weekly change (-2,319) was the third largest decrease. Tennessee’s weekly change (-2,018) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+249) was the fifth largest increase.