RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims were essentially unchanged, holding at their highest level since the end of 2021 during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending August 13, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,983. The latest claims figure was an increase of 404 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in health care and social assistance, retail trade, administrative and support and waste management, professional, scientific and technical services, and manufacturing. Continued weeks claimed totaled 12,499, which was an increase of 23 claims from the previous week but was 64% lower than the 35,081 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

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.

In the week ending August 13, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was s 250,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 10,000 from 262,000 to 252,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 191,834 in the week ending August 13, a decrease of 4,536 (or -2.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 309,465 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. California’s preliminary weekly change (-1,965) was the largest decrease. Ohio’s weekly change (-1,785) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-1,268) was the third largest decrease. Texas’s weekly change (-1,161) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+574) was the sixth largest increase.