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 July 23, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,349. The latest claims figure was an increase of 283 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in retail trade, administrative and support and waste management, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, professional, scientific and technical services, and accommodation and food 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 10,914, which was an increase of 278 claims from the previous week but was 68% lower than the 33,603 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

In the week ending July 23, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 256,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 10,000 from 251,000 to 261,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 216,496 in the week ending July 23, a decrease of 42,417 (or -16.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 342,604 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. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (-7,563) was the largest decrease. New York’s weekly change (-5,736) was the second largest decrease. South Carolina’s preliminary weekly change (-3,320) was the third largest decrease. Alabama’s weekly change (-2,332) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+478) was the third largest increase.