Va. unemployment jumps to 6.4% in January | Richmond Times-Dispatch.

State unemployment rate jumps to 6.4% January reading up sharply but below U.S. figure; all 10 metro areas report increase

Virginia’s unemployment rate spiked to 6.4 percent in January, a rate not seen here since June 1992.

The increase amounts to more than 115,000 additional people forced out of work over a dozen months.

“I’d say maybe half of it is the seasonal decline and the other half of it the slow business condition,” said William F. Mezger, the commission’s chief economist. January typically has high unemployment, but extended manufacturing furloughs and the recession added to the pain, he said.

While high, Virginia’s jobless rate was below the January national average, not seasonally adjusted, of 8.5 percent.

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The city of Petersburg had the highest unemployment rate in the area and the fifthhighest in the commonwealth.

Unemployment rose to 13.5 percent in January, more than double the rate of a year ago, when Petersburg had 6.8 percent unemployment.

The number of people seeking job advice at the Goodwill of Central Virginia’s community employment center in Petersburg has been increasing.