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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia’s unemployment rate increased to 6.6 percent in February, nearly double the rate of the same month a year ago, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.
The jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal factors such as the annual winter construction slowdown, was up from 6 percent in January and from 3.5 percent in February 2008.
As bad as that seems, it’s still better than the 8.1 percent unemployment rate nationally. According to the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the District of Columbia and every state but Louisiana experienced an increase in unemployment last month.
William F. Mezger, chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission, said the state’s seasonally unadjusted rate in February was 7 percent - up from 6.4 percent in January, and the highest rate in Virginia since February 1992, when it also was 7 percent.
The VEC provides a monthly regional breakdown of the unemployment data, but Mezger said that information will not be available until sometime next week.
The federal statistics show that the number of Virginians working declined by 13,400 between January and February.
“That would be partially seasonal, but the rest would be from layoffs all over the state,“ Mezger said.
Among the companies slashing jobs in February was German memory-chip maker Qimonda AG, which put about 1,500 people out of work when it closed its Richmond area plant.
Since February 2008, employment in the state has decreased by 80,600, the latest figures show.
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