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

For the filing week ending May 28, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,376. The latest claims figure was an increase of 170 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, administrative and waste services, and retail trade. 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 9,426, which was a decrease of 138 claims from the previous week and was 82% lower than the 52,228 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

In the week ending May 28, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 200,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 210,000 to 211,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 182,327 in the week ending May 28, a decrease of 2,921 (or -1.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 430,171 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, half of U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (-3,516) was the largest decrease. Pennsylvania’s weekly change (-2,206) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-1,983) was the third largest decrease. Florida’s weekly change (-1,801) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+449) was the seventh largest increase.