RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims rose toward more typical pre-Pandemic levels during the most recent filing week.

For the filing week ending November 6, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,290. The latest claims figure was an increase of 202 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 24,922, which was a decrease of 6,642 claims from the previous week and 73% lower than the 91,960 continued claims from the comparable week last year. The November 6 filing week figure does not include agent claims. Over half of claims that had a self-reported industry were in the accommodation and food services, administrative and waste services, retail trade industries, and health care and 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 November 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was s 267,000, a decrease of 4,000 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 269,000 to 271,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 254,478 in the week ending November 6, an increase of 12,759 (or 5.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 720,432 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020. Looking at preliminary data, more states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (+6,692) was the largest increase. Ohio’s preliminary weekly change (+3,732) was the second largest increase. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (+2,312) was the third largest increase. Tennessee’s weekly change    (+2,144) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s increase (+323) was the fifteenth largest increase.