State jobless rate continues slide

Virginia’s unemployment rate dropped for the fourth straight month.

The unemployment rate for the month of March was 5.6 percent. That is the lowest unemployment rate in Virginia in over three years, and a decline from 5.7 percent in February.

The Commonwealth has the lowest unemployment rate in the Southeast, and the third-lowest unemployment rate east of the Mississippi River. The national unemployment rate for March was 8.2 percent.

“All of this means: more Virginians are working today. That is a good thing. It is a bipartisan accomplishment,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement on Friday.