The Virginia Employment Commission reported Tuesday that the state appeared to be on the verge of recession as 2008 ended and "will probably be in recession by first quarter 2009" -- a prediction that is old news for hundreds of people laid off in the region since October.

Statewide, Virginia shed about 17,700 jobs from October to November, according to unemployment numbers released Tuesday by the VEC.

The state's jobless rate in November increased to 4.6 percent from 4.2 percent in October. The national jobless rate in November was 6.7 percent.

Unemployment rates increased in November for both the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA.

In November 2007, the jobless rate in the Roanoke MSA was 3.2 percent, compared with 4.6 percent this year. For the Blacksburg MSA, the unemployment rate last November was 3.5 percent, compared with 5.6 percent this year.

The VEC primarily attributed the October to November statewide increase to people seeking holiday employment and factory furloughs tied to a weakening economy.

It reported also that there were 57,000 Virginia residents drawing unemployment benefits in November, compared with 35,000 in November 2007.

As manufacturing layoffs continue in Southwest Virginia, VEC figures suggest production workers in November were making, on average, significantly less than they were in 2007. Specifically, the average weekly wage in manufacturing production dropped more than $27 November to November.

Martinsville continued to record the state's highest jobless rate at 14.9 percent.