RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 2,486 and remained at the typical pre-Pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.

For the filing week ending June 17, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,486, which was a decrease of 656 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from manufacturing, administrative and support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, accommodation and food services, and health care and social assistance. Continued weeks claimed totaled 13,107, which was 319 claims higher than the previous week and an increase of 35.8% from the 9,653 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 June 17, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 264,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 262,000 to 264,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 250,037 in the week ending June 17, a decrease of 1,347 (or -0.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 206,272 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-2,417) was the largest decrease. Indiana was tied with Missouri for the second largest weekly change (-1,983). South Carolina’s preliminary weekly change (-1,783) was the third largest decrease. Ohio’s weekly change (-1,583) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-354) was the fourteenth largest decrease.