RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims fell again in the latest filing week to 1,895, reaching their lowest level since mid-July. Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Administrative and Support, and Waste Management are the leading industry clusters for the filed initial claims.

For the filing week ending September 3, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,895, which is a decrease of 310 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were in from health care and social assistance, retail trade, administrative support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, and manufacturing. Continued weeks claimed totaled 11,955, which was a decrease of 1,531 claims from the previous week and 73% lower than the 44,435 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 September 3, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 232,000 to 228,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 175,842 in the week ending September 3, an increase of 1,978 (or 1.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 285,950 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 (+2,955) was the largest increase. Oklahoma’s weekly change (+1,516) was the second largest increase. Pennsylvania’s preliminary weekly change (+991) was the third largest increase. Kentucky’s weekly change (+814) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change     (+618) was the seventh largest increase.