RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims increased and rose to their highest level since the end of 2021 during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending August 6, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,579. The latest claims figure was an increase of 216 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 support and waste management, retail trade, 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 12,476, which was an increase of 634 claims from the previous week but was 61% lower than the 31,739 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

In the week ending August 6, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 262,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 12,000 from 260,000 to 248,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 203,619 in the week ending August 6, an increase of 7,521 (or 3.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 323,043 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, the majority of U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (+7,447) was the largest increase. California’s weekly change (+4,399) was the second largest increase. New Jersey’s preliminary weekly change (+786) was the third largest increase. Indiana’s weekly change (+654) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+367) was the eighth largest increase.