RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims was essentially unchanged in the latest filing week at 1,558 and remained at levels typically seen over the last twelve months.

For the filing week ending April 8, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,558, which was a decrease of five claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from administrative and support and waste management, professional, scientific, and technical services, retail trade, and health care and social assistance. Continued weeks claimed totaled 11,681, which was a decrease of 142 claims from the previous week but an increase of 68% from the 6,971 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 April 8, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted[1] initial claims was 239,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 228,000. This is the highest level for initial claims since January 15, 2022, when it was 251,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 234,577 in the week ending April 8, an increase of 27,457 (or 13.3 percent) from the previous week. There were 223,751 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. California’s preliminary weekly change (+11,388) was the largest increase. New Jersey’s weekly change (+3,228) was the second largest increase. Pennsylvania’s preliminary weekly change (+2,816) was the third largest increase. Texas’s weekly change (+2,776) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+175) was the 23^rd largest increase.