A timing oddity, the March employment figures were released this week from the state of Virginia, just as the numbers nationwide were reported for April.

The state's unemployment rose to 3.9 percent in March, up from 3.8 percent in February and 2.9 percent last March, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. State officials blamed the rise of the past year (which amounts to nearly 41,000 more unemployed statewide) to a drop in construction employment because of a slow housing market and labor unrest at Midwest factories that led to local layoffs at suppliers. The strike at the Volvo plant in Dublin did not affect the results, as state law prevents unemployment benefits going to striking workers.

Locally, unemployment in the Roanoke metro rose to 4 percent (from 3.9 in February and 3.0 in March 2007). A similar increase took place in the Christiansburg-Blacksburg-Radford metro, where unemployment rose to 4.5 percent (from 4.4 in February and 3.9 last March).

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• Posted by Chris Winston in Employment
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