RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims edged lower in the latest filing week to 2,269 but remained at the typical pre-Pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.

For the filing week ending July 29, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,269, which was a decrease of 24 claimants from the previous week. Continued weeks claimed totaled 13,727, which was 13 claims higher than the previous week and an increase of 15.9% from the 11,842 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Ninety-three percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry, of those reported over half (57 percent) of continued claims were from professional, scientific, and technical services (1,944), administrative and support and waste management (1,874), health care and social assistance (1,328), manufacturing (1,137), and accommodation and food services (1,021). 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 July 29, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs[1], unadjusted, totaled 205,012 in the week ending July 29, a decrease of 8,485 (or -4.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 196,116 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 (-2,958) was the largest decrease. California’s preliminary weekly change (-2,386) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-1,593) was the third largest decrease. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-1,162) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+79) was the twelfth largest increase.