RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims rose in the latest filing week to 1,838 but remained at levels typically seen over the last twelve months.

For the filing week ending April 22, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,838, which was an increase of 78 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from professional, scientific, and technical services, administrative and support and waste management, retail trade, manufacturing, and health care and social assistance. Continued weeks claimed totaled 11,830, which was little changed from the previous week but an increase of 63% from the 7,252 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 April 22, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted[1] initial claims was 230,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 245,000 to 246,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 225,841 in the week ending April 22, a decrease of 3,478 (or -1.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 202,952 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Ohio’s preliminary weekly change (-3,280) was the largest decrease. New Jersey’s weekly change (-3,073) was the second largest decrease. California’s preliminary weekly change (-3,003) was the third largest decrease. Connecticut’s weekly change (-1,999) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+271) was the ninth largest increase.