RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims declined in the latest filing week to 601, remaining at a historically low level.

For the filing week ending November 12, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 601, which is a decrease of 156 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from administrative support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, health care and social assistance, construction, and manufacturing. Continued weeks claimed totaled 7,158, which was an increase of 207 claims from the previous week but 47% lower than the 13,407 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 November 12, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 225,000 to 226,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 199,603 in the week ending November 12, a decrease of 6,101 (or -3.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 240,435 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (-3,322) was the largest decrease. Georgia’s weekly change (-1,902) was the second largest decrease. Florida’s preliminary weekly change (-1,523) was the third largest decrease. Texas’s weekly change (-1,498) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-12) was the 29th largest decrease.