RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is delivering on his promise to reduce Virginia’s backlog of unemployment claims.

As of Jan. 15, the backlog of employment separation reports has been reduced by nearly 89 percent from 246,273 to 27,728, and unpaid pending claims have been reduced from just under 25,000 to 15,846.

The VEC was plagued by problems during the pandemic, with consumers complaining that their claims went funpaid for months.

In a statement Monday, the governor said “Virginians deserve an unemployment insurance system that is responsive, efficient and customer focused.”

Youngkin’s office said that this was a “first step” in the governor’s commitment to fixing the VEC and putting the government to work for Virginians.