RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims filed in the October 10 filing week was nearly two thirds lower than its May 16 peak, according to figures released today.

For the filing week ending October 10, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 9,110. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 1,733 claimants from the previous week and 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 142,220, which was an 11.5% decrease from the previous week, but 125,354 higher than the 16,866 continued claims from the comparable week last year. This drop indicated an acceleration of its recent declining trend. 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 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 898,000, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 5,000 from 840,000 to 845,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 885,885 in the week ending October 10, an increase of 76,670 (or 9.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 201,677 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Indiana’s preliminary weekly change (+18,788) was the largest increase among states. Illinois’ preliminary weekly change (+9,805) was the second largest increase. Others included Massachusetts (+9,582), Georgia (+8,526), Washington (+6,083), and New York (+4,514). Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+1,162) was the 15th largest increase among states.