RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims fell again in the latest filing week to 377, remaining at a historically low level.

For the filing week ending October 15, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 377, which is a decrease of 105 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were in professional, scientific, and technical services, administrative support and waste management, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and construction. Continued weeks claimed totaled 6,159, which was a decrease of 13 claims from the previous week and 90% lower than the 58,421 continued claims from the comparable week last year.

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. 

In the week ending October 15, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 214,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 228,000 to 226,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 178,369 in the week ending October 15, a decrease of 20,003 (or -10.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 257,215 initial claims in the comparable week in 2021. Looking at preliminary data, the majority of U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Possibly influenced by the recovery from Hurricane Ian, Florida’s preliminary weekly change (-3,856) was the largest decrease. New York’s weekly change (-2,963) was the second largest decrease. California’s preliminary weekly change (-2,354) was the third largest decrease. Texas’s weekly change (-1,682) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-46) was the 29th largest decrease.