RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims dropped to below pre-Pandemic levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending October 30, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,088. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 1,482 claimants from the previous week. Eligibility for benefits is determined on a weekly basis, and so not all weekly claims filed result in a benefit payment. This is because the initial claims numbers represent claim applications; claims are then reviewed for eligibility and legitimacy.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 31,564, which was a decrease of 13,276 claims from the previous week but 68% lower than the 99,711 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the health care and social assistance, administrative and waste services, accommodation and food services, and retail trade 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 October 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 269,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 281,000 to 283,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 240,216 in the week ending October 30, a decrease of 7,114 (or -2.9 percent) from the previous week. There were 737,503 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. Looking at preliminary data, more states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Missouri’s preliminary weekly change (-3,017) was the largest decrease. Florida’s preliminary weekly change (-2,830) was the second largest decrease. Oklahoma’s preliminary weekly change (-1,681) was the third largest decrease. Virginia’s weekly change   (-1,386) was the fourth largest decrease.