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

For the filing week ending March 5, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,829. The latest claims figure was an increase of 411 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in administrative and waste services, retail trade, professional, scientific, and technical services, and health care and social assistance. 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 6,510, which was a decrease of 301 claims from the previous week and 90% lower than the 62,269 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 March 5, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 215,000 to 216,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 218,072 in the week ending March 5, an increase of 22,025 (or 11.2 percent) from the previous week. There were 722,180 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (-2,381) was the largest decrease. Pennsylvania’s preliminary weekly change (-2,185) was the second largest decrease. Missouri’s preliminary weekly change (-1,567) was the third largest decrease. Tennessee’s weekly change (-1,417) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+587) was the ninth largest increase.