RICHMOND—The Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement (DWDA) announced today that the number of initial unemployment insurance claims edged higher in the latest filing week to 1,770 and remained slightly below typical pre-pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.

For the filing week ending November 18, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance in Virginia was 1,770, which was an increase of 59 claimants from the previous week. Continued weeks claimed totaled 12,083, edging downward from the previous week but an increase of 61% from the 7,490 continued claims from the comparable week last year. An industry was reported for ninety-three percent of continued claims. Of those, over half (53 percent) of continued claims were from professional, scientific, and technical services (1,814), administrative and support and waste management (1,732), manufacturing (1,276), and health care and social assistance (1,084). 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 November 18, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was s 209,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 231,000 to 233,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 238,677 in the week ending November 18, an increase of 21,239 (or 9.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 248,916 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022.

Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (+7,911) was the largest increase. Oregon’s preliminary weekly change (+2,305) was the second largest increase. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (+1,940) was the third largest increase. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (+1,480) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia had the 37th largest increase (+35).