Va. new employment claims rise slightly

Virginia’s new unemployment claims rose by about 19% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Friday.

For the filing week ending Nov. 6, Virginians filed 1,290 new claims, an increase of 202 from the week before. Continued claims totaled 24,922, a decrease of 6,642 from the previous week.

Compared to the same week last year, initial claims were about 87% lower than the 9,909 recorded then. Continued claims were 73% lower than the 91,960 from the comparable week last year.

People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

The majority of claimants who filed for benefits last week reported being in these industries: accommodation/food services; administrative and waste services; retail; and health care and social assistance.

The VEC has been under scrutiny this year for backlogs of claims and for multiple delays in the launch of its updated claims system. The VEC shut down its system last Monday to launch the new one, and a recent report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shows that the agency has made progress in its backlog, down to 437,000 outstanding claims. The report also shows, though, that the VEC is trying to recoup more than $1.2 billion that was incorrectly paid out, WWBT reported.

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 267,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the lowest level for initial claims since the 256,000 reported on March 14, 2020. There were 720,432 initial claims in the comparable week in 2020.