RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims rose in the latest filing week to 766, remaining at a historically low level.

For the filing week ending October 29, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 766, which is an increase of 152 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were manufacturing, administrative support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, health care and social assistance, and construction. Continued weeks claimed totaled 6,375, which was an increase of 223 claims from the previous week but 80% lower than the 31,564 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 October 29, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 217,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 217,000 to 218,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 185,594 in the week ending October 29, an increase of 1,174 (or 0.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 241,719 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. California’s preliminary weekly change (+2,535) was the largest increase. Oregon’s weekly change (+1,566) was the second largest increase. Washington’s preliminary weekly change (+676) was the third largest increase. Minnesota’s weekly change (+670) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+342) was the seventh largest increase.