RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims decreased significantly, falling to their lowest level since mid-July during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending August 27, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,205. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 609 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, and professional, scientific and technical services, and manufacturing. Continued weeks claimed totaled 13,486, which was an increase of 943 claims from the previous week but was over 70% lower than the 46,471 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 27, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 6,000 from 243,000 to 237,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 176,793 in the week ending August 27, a decrease of 2,492 (or -1.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 292,292 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. Connecticut’s preliminary weekly change (-1,816) was the largest decrease. Missouri’s weekly change (-1,370) was the second largest decrease. Oklahoma’s preliminary weekly change (-1,334) was the third largest decrease. Georgia’s weekly change (-1,069) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change     (-439) was the ninth largest decrease.