RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims fell again in the latest filing week to 1,670, reaching their lowest level since mid-July 2022. Administrative and support and waste management, retail trade, health care and social assistance are the leading industry clusters for the filed initial claims.

For the filing week ending September 10, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,670, which is a decrease of 225 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were in administrative support and waste management, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and professional, scientific, and technical services. Continued weeks claimed totaled 10,296, which was a decrease of 1,659 claims from the previous week and 75% lower than the 40,624 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 10, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 213,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 222,000 to 218,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 155,961 in the week ending September 10, a decrease of 16,934 (or -9.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 265,902 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. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-2,601) was the largest decrease. California’s weekly change      (-2,563) was the second largest decrease. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-1,942) was the third largest decrease. Georgia’s weekly change (-1,498) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-62) was the 36^th largest decrease.