RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims fell again in the latest filing week to 953, dipping to a historically low level.

For the filing week ending September 24, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 953, which is a decrease of 429 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were in retail trade, administrative support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, and health care and social assistance. Continued weeks claimed totaled 9,563, which was an increase of 69 claims from the previous week and 80% lower than the 47,241 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 24, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 193,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 213,000 to 209,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 156,060 in the week ending September 24, a decrease of 12,642 (or -7.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 301,143 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. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (-5,674) was the largest decrease. New Jersey’s weekly change (-1,521) was the second largest decrease. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-1,266) was the third largest decrease. Missouri’s weekly change (-1,071) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-278) was the 14^th largest decrease.