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Virginia work group reviews law that raises weekly unemployment benefits and studies automatic indexing
Summary
Members of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation’s weekly benefits work group reviewed a 2025 law that raises weekly unemployment benefits by $52 effective Jan. 1, 2026, and heard options for tying annual benefit adjustments to the average weekly wage while noting concerns about trust fund solvency and employer tax impacts.
Members of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation’s weekly benefits work group met in Richmond to review recent legislation that raises weekly unemployment benefits and to begin studying whether future annual adjustments should be tied to the state’s average weekly wage.
The enactment clause of HB 1766 and its Senate cognate SB 1056, passed in the 2025 session, requires that for unemployment compensation claims effective on or after Jan. 1, 2026, an eligible individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be $52 higher than the current weekly benefit amount and directs the commission, in consultation with the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), to convene a work group to meet at least once each quarter to study making annual adjustments based on the average weekly wage. The clause also requires the work group to complete meetings by July 1, 2026, and submit an executive summary and report of findings and recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly.
The…
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