RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims significantly increased in the latest filing week to 2,656 but remained at levels typically seen over the last twelve months.
For the filing week ending January 14, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,656, which is an increase of 698 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from administrative support and waste management; construction; retail trade; and professional, scientific, and technical services. Continued weeks claimed totaled 10,677, which was an increase of 588 claims from the previous week and an increase of 51% from the 7,059 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 January 14, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 190,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 205,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 285,575 in the week ending January 14, a decrease of 53,582 (or -15.8 percent) from the previous week. There were 336,424 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-17,196) was the largest decrease. Michigan’s weekly change (-5,540) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-5,072) was the third largest decrease. New Jersey’s weekly change (-4,122) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-267) was the 26th largest decrease.
PDF of Press Release