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Foreclosure filings in Virginia in February rose 15 percent from the same month a year ago—the smallest year-to-year percentage increase in two years, indicating that the flood of foreclosures may be slowing, according to a RealtyTrac report released yesterday. What’s more, the number of filings—which includes default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions—fell 10 percent from January to February, according to the online research firm.

Virginia’s unemployment rate in January jumped to 6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 5 percent in December, a U.S. Labor Department’s report on state unemployment show. The jobless rate in January 2008 was 3.4 percent. This is the same pattern we have seen since the fall,“ said William F. Mezger, the chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission.

As the recession deepened during the last four months of 2008, layoffs and staff reductions turned Virginia’s job growth negative. Rather than adding 14,400 jobs as projected for 2008, the state shed 3,900 jobs, according to data released yesterday by the Virginia Employment Commission. “If you look at data since September, that’s when employment dropped off in the United States, and Virginia is following the trend,“ said Christine Chmura, chief economist and president of Richmond-based Chmura Economics and Analytics.

WASHINGTON Factory jobs disappeared. Inflation soared. Mortgages carried double-digit interest rates. Unemployment climbed to alarming levels. The hungry lined up at soup kitchens. It wasn’t the 1930s. It was the 1981-82 recession, widely considered America’s worst since the Great Depression.

Hopes for the economy to pull out of its nose-dive were bolstered last month with the passing of a $787 billion stimulus package. According to the latest survey from The Conference Board, consumer confidence is at an all-time low, and when combined with mounting job losses, it’s no wonder that personal consumption has fallen off a cliff. Since personal consumption makes up about 70 percent of economic activity, the government is attempting to fill the spending gap through its stimulus initiatives. Put another way, the economy is flat-lining, and Uncle Sam is applying the paddles.

The recession snatched more than 650,000 Americans’ jobs for a record third straight month in February as unemployment climbed to a quarter-century peak of 8.1 percent. The human carnage from the recession, well into its second year, now stands at 4.4 million lost jobs. Some 12.5 million people are searching for work—more than the population of the state of Pennsylvania.

While companies nationwide are cutting production and shedding employees to cope with a bleak economy, Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. is planning to stay in Galax and expand. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced yesterday that the company, a fixture in Galax since 1919, will invest $2.15 million in new machinery and add 100 jobs to its work force.

Quinzella Lyons is frightened by the souring economy and its ever-increasing drain on the job market. But, she said, she’s not at all worried. As the manager of Quick’s Stop & Go Mini-Mart in Petersburg, she has the one thing she needs most right now—a job—and she said she thinks she knows how to keep it. “You know, the job’s here today, but it could be gone tomorrow,“ said Lyons, who has worked at the market since November. “I’m doing my job right and treating people right.“

The unemployment figure is the highest since late 1983; payrolls drop 651,000. Says one analyst: “There’s no hope for a turnaround any time soon.“

A major deregulation of the U.S. financial system in the late 1990s that allowed banks and brokerages to merge did not cause the current financial crisis, an industry executive said yesterday. But Karen H. Wimbish, president of Wachovia Securities’ Latin America group, said the resulting changes in the industry may have helped exacerbate the crisis.

Circuit City will disappear from the retail landscape by Sunday night. All of the retailer’s remaining 500-plus stores will close by then, ending an era for a chain that began in downtown Richmond in 1949.

The number of new jobless claims and the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week, though they remain at elevated levels and are unlikely to fall substantially in the coming months. Few economists expect a turnaround in the battered labor market anytime soon with companies laying off thousands of workers weekly.

A stunning 48 percent of the nation’s homeowners who have a subprime, adjustable-rate mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure, and the rate for homeowners with all mortgage types hit a new record, according to data released yesterday. But that’s not the worst of it. The reckless lending practices in states such as Florida, California and Nevada that were the epicenter of the housing crisis are no longer driving up the nation’s delinquency rate. Instead, the foreclosure crisis now is being fueled by a spike in defaults in states such as Louisiana, New York, Georgia and Texas, where the economies are rapidly deteriorating and thousands are losing their jobs.

The Obama administration’s housing plan is intended to help about 9 million struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, but it leaves out tens of thousands of borrowers in the most battered housing markets who won’t qualify because their homes have lost too much value. The program detailed yesterday offers refinanced mortgages or modified loans with lower monthly payments. Yet its refinancing plan is limited to borrowers who owe up to 5 percent more than their home’s current value. Loan modifications, supported by $75 billion in federal funding, are unlikely for severely “underwater” borrowers.