RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims filed in the October 3^rd filing week was nearly ten times larger than in the comparable week in 2019, according to figures released today.

For the filing week ending October 3, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 10,843. The latest claims figure was an increase of 1,466 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 160,764, which was a 7.5% decrease from the previous week, but 143,924 higher than the 16,840 continued claims from the comparable week last year. They have declined at a consistent pace since mid-August—around 6.9% 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 October 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 840,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 12,000 from 837,000 to 849,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 804,307 in the week ending October 3, an increase of 5,312 (or 0.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 188,106 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Florida’s preliminary weekly change (+7,827) was the largest increase among states. Illinois’ preliminary weekly change (+6,646) was the second largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+3,266) was the third largest increase.