The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced that the number of initial claims filed from mid-March through the June 27, 2020 filing week totaled 906,734 or 22 percent of pre-pandemic, nonfarm employment, according to figures released July 2.
For the filing week ending June 27, the figure for seasonally unadjusted initial claims in Virginia was 31,955. The latest claims figure showed an increase of 6,662 claimants from the previous week.
The weekly total was the highest since May, but still well below the initial spike in unemployment insurance claims during the March 21 filing week, according to the VEC.
For the most recent filing week, continued weeks claimed totaled 366,714, down 8,865 from the previous week, but 346,917 higher than the 19,797 continued claims from the comparable week last year. The continued claims total is mainly comprised of those recent initial claimants who continued to file for unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continued claims during the June 27 filing week equaled 40% of all initial claims filed during the pandemic to this point. This percentage has trended downward in recent weeks.
