RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 2,401 and remained at the typical pre-Pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.

For the filing week ending May 27, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,401, which was a decrease of 69 claimants from the previous week. Over half of initial claims with a self-reported industry were from manufacturing, accommodation and food services, administrative and support and waste management, and health care and social assistance. Continued weeks claimed totaled 12,821, which was essentially unchanged from the previous week but an increase of a 36% from the 9,426 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 May 27, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 229,000 to 230,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 207,941 in the week ending May 27, an increase of 5,296 (or 2.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 183,446 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported increases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Ohio’s preliminary weekly change (+2,133) was the largest increase. New York’s weekly change (+1,277) was the second largest increase. Illinois’s preliminary weekly change (+1,181) was the third largest increase. Connecticut’s weekly change (+875) was the fourth largest increase. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (+433) was the eighth largest increase.