RICHMOND (AP) — Virginia's November unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the same time a year ago.

The Virginia Employment Commission says November's unemployment was up from 4.2 percent in October, as more people looked for holiday employment and a weakened economy caused more factories to slow operations during the season.

The state's November unemployment was well below the national rate of 6.5 percent.
Among Virginia's 134 counties and cities, Arlington County had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.8 percent; Martinsville had the highest, at 14.9 percent.

The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford area had a 5.6 percent unemployment rate in November, up 0.5 percentage points from October. The Roanoke area recorded a 4.6 percent unemployment rate, a similar increase. These local rates still lag the federal unemployment rate of 6.7 percent in November (it’s expected to rise to 7 percent in new data coming out later this week). The November figures also don’t reflect a round of major layoffs first reported in November and December, as those didn’t take effect until late December or later this month.