Job search requirements for unemployment return to Virginia

(The Center Square) – Virginians will now be required to search for jobs in order to collect unemployment benefits, which is a rule that was temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To be eligible for unemployment benefits, a person will have to prove he or she has applied for two jobs within that week. The job search requirement will apply to unemployment requests for the week between May 30 and June 5. It can be included on applications for that week, filed the following week between June 6 and June 12.

If a person declines a job offer, that person may also be denied benefits. The requirement will be in place for all subsequent weeks.

Stephen Haner, a senior fellow for state and local tax policy at the Thomas Jefferson Institute, told The Center Square that reestablishing this requirement will help reduce unemployment, but that the Virginia Employment Commission should have done it sooner.

“If VEC follows the rules, it will … result in more people taking jobs, because if they refuse they can lose their benefits,” Haner said. The return of this requirement, which is actually standard practice, is long overdue. The justification for emergency extra weekly benefits is also long past and Virginia could follow other states and suspend those early. But the very best step perhaps would be clarity that all public schools will be open in the fall for in person instruction on the regular schedule, giving those parents some certainty.”

A person may not be required to search for jobs if that person is enrolls in a training or educational program.

The state suspended these requirements when the pandemic-era restrictions made it difficult for many people to get jobs. As of Friday, most of these restrictions are over.

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