RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 1,189, remaining at levels typically seen earlier in the year.

For the filing week ending December 24, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,189, which is a decrease of 268 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry from administrative support and waste management, accommodation and food services, manufacturing, construction, and professional, scientific and technical services. Continued weeks claimed totaled 9,286, which was an increase of 259 claims from the previous week and was nearly twice as large as the 4,904 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 24, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 225,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 216,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 271,590 in the week ending December 24, an increase of 23,146 (or 9.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 257,870 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Missouri’s preliminary weekly change (+4,785) was the largest increase. Kentucky’s weekly change (+4,162) was the second largest increase. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (+2,353) was the third largest increase. New York’s weekly change (+2,234) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-117) was the 14^th largest decrease.