RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 2,470 and remained at the typical pre-Pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.

For the filing week ending May 20, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,470, which was a decrease of 151 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from accommodation and food services; manufacturing; professional, scientific and technical services; and administrative and support and waste management. Continued weeks claimed totaled 12,736, which was essentially unchanged from the previous week but an increase of a third from the 9,564 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 May 20, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 17,000 from 242,000 to 225,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 202,044 in the week ending May 20, an increase of 1,306 (or 0.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 187,695 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Massachusetts’s preliminary weekly change (-2,190) was the largest decrease. Michigan’s weekly change (-1,070) was the second largest decrease. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (-923) was the third largest decrease. Oregon’s weekly change (-559) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-51) was the eighteenth largest decrease.