RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims fell again in the latest filing week to 1,382, reaching their lowest level since the early summer. Administrative and support and waste management, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail trade were the leading industry clusters for the filed initial claims.

For the filing week ending September 17, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,382, which is a decrease of 288 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were in administrative support and waste management, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail trade. Continued weeks claimed totaled 9,484, which was a decrease of 802 claims from the previous week and 75% lower than the 37,569 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 17, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 213,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 5,000 from 213,000 to 208,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 171,562 in the week ending September 17, an increase of 19,385 (or 12.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 306,581 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. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (+6,167) was the largest increase. Massachusetts’s weekly change (+2,559) was the second largest increase. New York’s preliminary weekly change (+2,185) was the third largest increase. Georgia’s weekly change (+1,666) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-98) was the 7^th largest decrease.