RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 1,385 and remained at levels typically seen over the last twelve months.

For the filing week ending February 25, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,385, which was a decrease of 212 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from Administrative and Support and Waste Management, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, Retail Trade, Manufacturing, and Construction. Continued weeks claimed totaled 11,785, which was an increase of 110 claims from the previous week and an increase of 73% from the 6,811 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 February 25, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 190,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 192,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 201,710 in the week ending February 25, a decrease of 9,297 (or -4.4 percent) from the previous week. There were 196,047 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (-6,156) was the largest decrease. California’s weekly change (-2,353) was the second largest decrease. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-1,562) was the third largest decrease. Ohio’s weekly change (-1,326) was the fourth largest decrease. While most states had a decrease in claims, Massachusetts had (+4385) and Rhode Island (+1212) had significant increases. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-64) was the 28th largest decrease.