July 20, 2023
Timothy Aylor
Senior Economist
Economic Information & Analytics Division
timothy.aylor@vec.virginia.gov
(804) 786-3976
Virginia Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims at 2,424; Administrative and Support and Waste Management Leading Industry for Claims
~ Seasonally unadjusted weekly initial unemployment insurance claims lower from the previous filing week, with continued claims higher over that period ~
RICHMOND—The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced today that the number of initial claims decreased in the latest filing week to 2,424 but remained at the typical pre-Pandemic volumes experienced in 2019.
For the filing week ending July 15, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 2,424, which was a decrease of 392 claimants from the previous week. Continued weeks claimed totaled 13,696, which was 400 claims higher than the previous week and an increase of 28.8% from the 10,636 continued claims from the comparable week last year. Ninety-three percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry, of those reported over half (57 percent) of continued claims were from professional, scientific, and technical services (1,885), administrative and support and waste management (1,848), manufacturing (1,301), health care and social assistance (1,274), and retail trade (1,012).
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 July 15, the advance U.S. figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 228,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 237,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs[1], unadjusted, totaled 257,976 in the week ending July 15, a decrease of 326 (or -0.1 percent) from the previous week. There were 237,092 initial claims in the comparable week in 2022. Looking at preliminary data, most U.S. states reported decreases on a seasonally unadjusted basis. Michigan’s preliminary weekly change (-3,765) was the largest decrease. Kentucky’s preliminary weekly change (-2,729) was the second largest decrease. New Jersey’s preliminary weekly change (-2.210) was the third largest decrease. New York’s preliminary weekly change (-1,706) was the fourth largest decrease. Virginia’s preliminary weekly change (-279) was the seventeenth largest decrease.
[1] Note: Advance claims are not directly comparable to claims reported in prior weeks. Advance claims are reported by the state liable for paying the unemployment compensation, whereas previous weeks reported claims reflect claimants by state of residence. In addition, claims reported as "workshare equivalent" in the previous week are added to the advance claims as a proxy for the current week's "workshare equivalent" activity.
