RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 488, remaining at a historically low level. 

For the filing week ending November 26, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 488, which is a decrease of 437 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from manufacturing, administrative support and waste management, accommodation and food services, professional, scientific, and technical services, and construction. Continued weeks claimed totaled 7,347, which was a decrease of 143 claims from the previous week, but a reduction of nearly half from the 13,917 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 26, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 225,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 240,000 to 241,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 198,557 in the week ending November 26, a decrease of 50,512 (or -20.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 216,685 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (-10,667) was the largest decrease. Texas’s weekly change (-5,087) was the second largest decrease. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (-4,857) was the third largest decrease. Georgia’s weekly change (-4,804) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-315) was the 31st largest decrease.