RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) has launched an interactive dashboard to make it easier to track unemployment claims. On Monday, Sept. 14, VEC announced it has launched a new dashboard that allows Virginians, employers, policymakers and other stakeholders a simple w ay to track unemployment claims activity and monitor trends. The dashboard will provide insights into Virginia's initial claims, continued weeks claimed and all weeks compensated data reported to the U.S. Department of Labor. Users will be able to access week-over-week, month-over-month and year-over-year changes, compare trends across three reporting years and see how the commonwealth compares with other U.S. states and trends, according to the release. “Unemployment insurance claims data are an important economic indicator, providing timely insight into labor market conditions and workforce trends across Virginia,” said VEC commissioner Melissa Smith. “This dashboard takes complex data and makes it easier for anyone to see what the numbers are telling us, whether it’s looking at changes from one week to the next, identifying longer-term trends or comparing Virginia with other states and the nation.”  The dashboard takes data from two datasets that the VEC reports to the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. For more information and to use the dashboard, visit VEC's website here. ...read more read less