RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims significantly increased in the latest filing week to 1,958 but remained at levels typically seen over the last twelve months.

For the filing week ending January 7, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,958, which is an increase of 597 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from construction; administrative support and waste management; retail trade; and professional, scientific, and technical services. Continued weeks claimed totaled 10,089, which was an increase of 544 claims from the previous week and an increase of 28% from the 7,895 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 January 7, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 205,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 204,000 to 206,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 339,286 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 60,799 (or 21.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 414,810 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (+18,179) was the largest increase. New York’s weekly change (+17,507) was the second largest increase. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (+9,425) was the third largest increase. Georgia’s weekly change (+8,235) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+863) was the 15^th largest increase.