RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today initial weekly claims of 1,932, and number of continued claims was 7,253. The continued weeks claims total was unchanged from the previous week and remained at pre-pandemic levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending April 30, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,932. The latest claims figure was an increase of 87 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 7,253, which was an increase of one claim from the previous week and was 87% lower than the 55,195 continued claims from the comparable week last year. 

In the week ending April 30, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 200,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 180,000 to 181,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 196,962 in the week ending April 30, a decrease of 7,164 (or -3.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 510,161 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 (-3,078) was the largest decrease. New Jersey’s weekly change (-2,741) was the second largest decrease. Connecticut’s preliminary weekly change (-2,316) was the third largest decrease. Ohio’s weekly change (-2,194) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+255) was the sixth largest increase.