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

For the filing week ending March 12, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,854. The latest claims figure was an increase of 25 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in manufacturing, administrative and waste services, retail trade, professional, and scientific, and technical services. 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 6,684, which was an increase of 174 claims from the previous week and was 89% lower than the 59,976 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 12, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 214,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 227,000 to 229,000. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 231,250 to 231,750. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 202,894 in the week ending March 12, a decrease of 16,981 (or -7.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 757,202 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-16,006) was the largest decrease. New Jersey’s preliminary weekly change (-1,181) was the second largest decrease. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (-1,144) was the third largest decrease. The District of Columbia’s weekly change (-1,011) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+202) was the ninth largest increase.