RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today initial weekly claims of 1,301, and number of continued claims was 8,511. The continued weeks claims total rose from the previous week but remained at pre-pandemic levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending May 14, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,301. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 69 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, retail trade, and administrative and waste 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 8,511, which was an increase of 1,002 claims from the previous week and was 86% lower than the 60,413 continued claims from the comparable week last year. 

In the week ending May 14, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 218,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 6,000 from 203,000 to 197,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 198,711 in the week ending May 14, an increase of 12,811 (or 6.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 451,302 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-558) was the largest decrease. Arizona’s weekly change (-405) was the second largest decrease. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (-373) was the third largest decrease. The District of Columbia’s weekly change (-267) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+148) was the 13th largest increase.