RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims filed during the November 21 filing week rose to the highest level in a month, according to figures released today.

For the filing week ending November 21, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 12,234. The latest claims figure was an increase of 1,146 claimants from the previous week and rose to its highest level in nearly a month.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 81,138, which was a 4.7% decrease from the previous week, but 63,597 higher than the 17,541 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Although a deceleration, this drop indicated a continuation 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. 

Nationwide, in the week ending November 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 778,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 6,000 from 742,000 to 748,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 827,710 in the week ending November 21, an increase of 78,372 (or 10.5 percent) from the previous week. There were 252,428 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (+18,255) was the largest increase among states. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (+15,843) was the second largest increase. Others included Washington (+13,179), California (+9,157), New Mexico (+8,037), and Minnesota (+7,898). Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+4,752) was the 11th largest increase.