RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims filed during the September 19 filing week was nearly five times larger than the comparable week in 2019, according to figures released today.

For the filing week ending September 19, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 10,582. The latest claims figure was an increase of 482 claimants from the previous week but continued the overall trend of lower claims volumes seen in recent months following April’s peak.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 188,195, which was a 6.7% decrease from the previous week, but 170,944 higher than the 17,251 continued claims from the comparable week last year. They have declined at a consistent pace since mid-August—around 6.6% a week. The continued claims total is mainly comprised of those recent initial claimants who continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For additional information on who is claiming unemployment insurance in Virginia, access the VEC’s    U.I. claims data dashboard (https://www.vec.virginia.gov/ui-claims-dashboard) that is updated no later than the following Monday after the weekly claims press release.

Nationwide, in the week ending September 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 870,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 6,000 from 860,000 to 866,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 824,542 in the week ending September 19, an increase of 28,527 (or 3.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 175,394 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. New York’s preliminary weekly change (+9,403) was the largest increase among states. Others included Georgia (+6,387), California (+4,439), Massachusetts (+4,407), and New Jersey (+4,025). Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+2,392) was the eighth largest increase.