For Release:
August 8, 2024
Contact:
Virginia Works
Economic Information & Analytics Division
LMI@virginiaworks.gov
(804) 786-7496

Virginia’s Latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Initial Claims at 1,937; Continued Claims at 16,893

RICHMOND— Virginia Works announced today that 1,937 unemployment insurance weekly initial claims were filed during the week ending August 03, 2024, which is 27.8 percent lower than last week's 2,682 claims and 23.1 percent lower than the comparable week of last year (2,520).  Nearly 86 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (61 percent) were Administrative and Support and Waste Management (239); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (229); Health Care and Social Assistance (182); Retail Trade (169); and Manufacturing (166).

Continued weeks claims (16,893) were 0.2 percent higher than last week (16,858) and were 23.5 percent higher than the comparable week of last year (13,678). Nearly 93 percent of claimants self-reported an associated industry; of those reported, the top five industries (58 percent) were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (2,505); Administrative and Support and Waste Management (2,209); Health Care and Social Assistance (1,684); Accommodation and Food Services (1,411); and Manufacturing (1,403).

Significant Layoffs and Announcements are available at the following websites:

WARN Notices | Virginia Employment Commission

Announcements | Virginia Economic Development Partnership

Initial Claims – Comparison of Unemployment Insurance Activity

 

Week Ending

08/03/2024

Week Ending

07/27/2024

Week Ending

07/20/2024

Last Year

08/05/2023

Initial Claims

1,937

2,682

2,045

2,520

Initial Change (%)

-745 (-27.8%)

+637 (+31.1%)

-388 (-15.9%)

-583 (-23.1%)

Continued Claims

16,893

16,858

16,721

13,678

graphic
graphic
 

Virginia Continued Weeks Claimed

A person who has already filed an initial claim and who has experienced a week of unemployment files a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment. On a weekly basis, continued claims reflect a good approximation of the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for UI benefits, and are a good indicator of labor market conditions. While continued claims are not a leading indicator, they provide confirming evidence of the direction of the economy.

The color-coded map below shows the distribution of this week’s continued claims for Virginia’s counties and cities.

Yellow represents low numbers, while progressively darker shades transitioning from yellow to green and dark green signify increasing numbers of continued claims. The legend located at the bottom provides the color spectrum and its corresponding count of continued claims.

graphic

Initial Claims for All States

In the week ending August 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 233,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 249,000 to 250,000. The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 203,054 in the week ending August 3, a decrease of 13,589 (or 6.3 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 1,251 (or 0.6 percent) from the previous week. There were 227,917 initial claims in the comparable week in 2023. 

Initial State Claims (5 largest decreases)
(Not Seasonally Adjusted)

 

State

Initial Claims (this week)

Initial Claims (prior week)

Change

Michigan

7,248

14,649

-7,401

Texas

20,264

25,078

-4,814

Missouri

2,454

6,288

-3,834

Georgia

4,700

5,419

-719

Virginia

2,040

2,682

-642

 

Initial State Claims (5 largest increases)
(Not Seasonally Adjusted)

 

State

Initial Claims (this week)

Initial Claims (prior week)

Change

California

41,838

40,787

1,051

New Jersey

9,208

8,453

755

New York

13,863

13,149

714

Wisconsin

4,135

3,436

699

Illinois

8,412

7,817

595

 

All States Initial Weeks Claimed

An initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The count of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions in the country.

Below is a color-coded map illustrating the percentage change in initial claims from last week to this week across all states nationwide, derived from the latest U.S Department of Labor Weekly Claims News Release (https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf). Green denotes a reduction in continued claims from last week, thus showing improvement, with progressively darker shades of green signifying greater improvement. Purple denotes an increase in continued claims from last week, thus showing deterioration, with progressively darker shades of purple signifying greater deterioration. Very light green, purple or white indicates minimal change from last week. The legend at the bottom provides the color spectrum along with its corresponding percentage value.

graphic