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NEWS
W.Va. unemployment rate hits 11% in Feb.
West Virginia's unemployment rate reaches 11 percent in February as the number of jobless residents increased by 5,000.
Workforce West Virginia said Monday that February's 11 percent rate was nearly six-tenths of a percentage point higher than January's rate and 3.3 points higher than the 7.7 percent rate of a year ago.
It was the highest rate since 1994, when the state's unemployment was over 11 percent in January and February. But current rate is well below the very bleak job picture West Virginia faced in the 1980s, when the unemployment remained above 12 percent for five years, reaching 19.3 percent in January 1983.
The number of unemployed state residents for February rose to 86,400. Total unemployment was up 25,400 over last year.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by three-tenths of a percentage point to 9.5 percent. The national rate remained at 9.7 percent.
