RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims increased in the latest filing week to 1,211, returning to a level typically seen earlier in the year.

For the filing week ending December 3, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,211, which is an increase of 723 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry from administrative support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, retail trade, manufacturing, and construction. Continued weeks claimed totaled 7,899, which was an increase of 552 claims from the previous week, but a reduction of 46% from the 14,598 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 December 3, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 230,000, an increase 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 286,436 in the week ending December 3, an increase of 87,113 (or 43.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 283,935 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (+16,057) was the largest increase. New York’s weekly change (+9,162) was the second largest increase. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (+7,904) was the third largest increase. Georgia’s weekly change (+7,576) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+974) was the 23^rd largest increase.