RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of continued claims filed during the February 13 filing week continued its three-month trend of small weekly changes, according to figures released today.

For the filing week ending February 13, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 14,901. Remaining elevated compared to recent months’ trends, the latest claims figure was an increase of 698 claimants from the previous week. Elevated levels this winter may have, in part, reflected reapplications for benefits following the government’s renewal of supplemental benefits until March 14 as part of the latest stimulus package.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 62,624, which was a 3.8% decrease from the previous week, but 40,143 higher than the 22,481 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the accommodation/food service, retail trade, administrative and waste services, and healthcare/social assistance industries. 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 February 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 861,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 55,000 from 793,000 to 848,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 862,351 in the week ending February 13, a decrease of 5,702 (or -0.7 percent) from the previous week. There were 209,336 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. Looking at preliminary data, most states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Texas’s preliminary weekly change (-12,428) was the largest decrease among states. Rhode Island’s preliminary weekly change (-6,269) was the second largest decrease. Georgia’s preliminary weekly change (-5,882) was the third largest decrease. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (-4,374) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+7,064) was the third largest increase.