A paper products company is expanding its plant in Shenandoah County, in what state officials called Virginia’s largest-ever investment by a Chinese-owned manufacturer. Mercury Paper Inc., which makes tissue and paper towels, will invest $21.2 million to expand its existing plant in Shenandoah County and relocate its North American headquarters to the site, creating 150 jobs, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office announced yesterday.

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a package of tax breaks and spending designed to give the nation a jobs boost by encouraging the private sector to start hiring again.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones wants the name of his office but not his own name on a revamped summer job training program for city teenagers, a spokeswoman said yesterday. “It’s all about elevating it as a priority to get the support we’ll need for the program,“ press secretary Tammy D. Hawley said. This week, City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson introduced a resolution to rename the Richmond Youth Academy as the Mayor Dwight C. Jones Youth Academy, Summer Works Initiative. Some residents derided the idea as an ego stroke for Jones. Council members had been preparing to discuss the implications of naming a city program or facility for a sitting mayor.

Job openings rose sharply earlier this year, evidence that employers are slowly ramping up hiring as the economy improves. The number of openings in January rose about 7.6 percent, to 2.7 million, compared with December, the Labor Department said. That’s the highest total since February 2009. The report is a sign that the economy is soon likely to generate consistent job gains. Some economists expect employers to add up to a net 300,000 jobs in March, though as many as a third of them could be temporary hiring for the 2010 Census.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. is planning to invest about $32 million to consolidate its two Henrico County container plants into a single facility. The consolidation will cost about 150 people their jobs, but the Chicago-based paper products company will get some state incentives if it meets the investment target. The company’s plants near Richmond International Airport employ about 300 people. County officials said this week that Smurfit-Stone plans to move into a single, consolidated plant that would employ about 150. The location of the consolidated site has not been disclosed.

to double digits, from 10 percent in Bristol to 20.3 percent in Martinsville. Many of these people are diligently seeking work and, in the meantime, are struggling to pay their daily expenses. This increased unemployment has put a significant strain on our current unemployment compensation system. Indeed, this demand has depleted Virginia’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to levels requiring a loan from the federal government. As we struggle to continue benefit payments and to repay the federal loan and interest, employers will have to pay higher unemployment taxes to replenish the fund.

Despite doubts among many lawmakers that it’ll create many jobs, the House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break. The measure passed 217-201 on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year.

Virginia had 193 major corporate location projects or expansions in 2009, ranking the state ninth in an annual list published by a magazine focusing on economic development and corporate real estate. For the fourth straight year, Ohio ranked first for major economic development deals in Site Selection magazine’s annual “Governor’s Cup” rankings. That state had 381 projects announced in 2009.

The Richmond area’s manufacturing economy is down, but not out. Even as the recession has delivered punches to industry sectors ranging from paper and packaging to high-tech electronics, the region has seen some investments in manufacturing, particularly in smaller, niche markets that have weathered the economic storm fairly well. Other entrepreneurs are trying to find ways to salvage new opportunities from what has been lost in manufacturing.

The newspaper’s 28th Public Square, held Tuesday evening at our downtown building, focused on the top issue facing Virginia and the rest of the country: jobs. Moderated by Publisher Tom Silvestri, the Square began with an overview of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration’s economic and employment policies given by the commonwealth’s new jobs creation officer, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. After his opening remarks, Bolling spent the rest of the evening answering questions and listening to ideas from an audience of about 100 people, including 31 who came to the microphone to speak.

Aging population creates the need for care workers Angela Pitchford and other students in a nurse aide class in South Richmond are learning that there is a correct way to put a support stocking on a fragile patient, to help a patient move to a chair and to help a patient eat. Nurse aides do a lot of the basic physical duties in patient care settings—work calling for very intimate interaction with patients and tasks many view as unglamorous and messy.

Job one at the Public Square is to demonstrate meaningful dialogue. That certainly happened Tuesday night, when nearly 100 people participated in our 28th program in the community initiative to hold civil, public conversations on issues important to our region. Before the event, we published stories and commentary to deepen understanding. We broadcast the steady stream of comments live on TimesDispatch.com. And we reported what people were saying in a breaking-news update posted online at 9:32 p.m. A revised story appeared in the next day’s newspaper and on our Web site. Coverage concludes today with the edited transcript of the many comments, in the section you’re now reading.

A Charlotte County lumber company is expanding its operations, creating 25 jobs and investing $4.2 million. Morgan Lumber Co., founded in Charlotte in 1939 by J.C. Morgan and his two sons, is installing a new dry-kiln technology at its facility that will enable the company to double production and increase efficiency. Gov. Bob McDonnell went to the county yesterday to announce the expansion, his first economic development announcement since taking office. McDonnell has said economic development, particularly in struggling areas such as Southside Virginia, is the top priority for his administration.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling says fewer regulations, more tax breaks and increased emphasis on biotechnology can create jobs in a state where unemployment is at a 25-year high.

Virgnians, like many people across the country, are worried about jobs. Too many don’t have jobs and most of the rest are concerned that they might lose theirs. Flat wages, furlough days, and expensive health insurance add pressures for those who are gainfully employed. Bob McDonnell was elected governor, in part, because he made it clear he understood that improving employment opportunities in the commonwealth would be job one when he took office.