New Virginia unemployment claims down 7.3 percent in the past week

The Virginia Employment Commission announced Thursday that new unemployment claims were down 7.3 percent over the past week.

For the filing week ending May 21, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 1,206. The latest claims figure was a decrease of 95 claimants from the previous week.

Over half of initial claims that had a self-reported industry were in accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, administrative and waste services, and retail trade.

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.

For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 9,564, which was an increase of 1,053 claims from the previous week but was 82 percent lower than the 54,163 continued claims from the comparable week last year.