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

For the filing week ending June 18, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,003. The latest claims figure was an increase of 505 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in health care and social assistance, administrative and waste services, accommodation and food services, retail trade, and professional, 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 9,653, which was an increase of 552 claims from the previous week but was 78% lower than the 42,878 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

In the week ending June 18, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 229,000 to 231,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 202,844 in the week ending June 18, a decrease of 3,255 (or -1.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 398,284 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, the majority of U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (-2,476) was the largest decrease. Florida’s weekly change (-1,257) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-879) was the third largest decrease. South Carolina’s weekly change (-820) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change
(+15) was the 16th largest increase.