Industrial employment in Virginia fell at its fastest rate in 16 years from October 2008 to October 2009 as the recession hit every manufacturing sector, according to a publishing firm. Manufacturers’ News Inc., an Evanston, Ill.-based publisher, said yesterday that Virginia lost 26,531 industrial jobs and 377 manufacturers in the 12-month period through October. Manufacturing employment declined about 7 percent year over year, based on the firm’s annual survey of manufacturers.

WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Grant Garcia gave voice to the challenges facing many young job seekers in 2009 by writing a blog about his own quest to find work fresh out of graduate school. WHAT’S NEW: Like so many new graduates and the newly unemployed, Garcia is still looking, more than six months after completing an MBA at the University of Richmond.

Creating jobs will literally be Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell’s first order of business, consistent with his campaign theme. He said yesterday that his first executive order as governor will form a job creation task force and that next week key administration officials will make the first of many trips to Southside Virginia to address suffocating unemployment.

Few employers plan to ramp up hiring early next year, two surveys show—evidence that the economic recovery isn’t likely to create many jobs anytime soon.That will mean fierce competition for job openings that do exist.Nearly 6.3 unemployed workers, on average, are vying for each opening, government figures released yesterday show. When the recession began, only 1.7 jobless workers were competing for each opening.More of America’s largest companies will shrink their staffs than will hire in the next six months, according to a quarterly survey from the Business Roundtable, a group of large-company CEOs released yesterday.Nineteen percent of the CEOs expect to expand their work forces, while 31 percent predict a decrease in the next six months, the survey found.That’s slightly better than the 13 percent who expected to increase hiring three months earlier. At that time, 40 percent forecast cuts.More chief executives foresee higher sales and capital spending compared with three months ago. But “it still will take some time for these gains to translate into more jobs,“ said Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon Communications and chairman of the Roundtable.Separately, a survey of 28,000 employers by staffing company Manpower Inc. found that hiring may improve in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the current quarter—but any gains will likely be slight.Manpower said its hiring index rose to 6. It was the first positive reading since the first quarter of 2009. Still, that’s far below the 18 the index reached in the fourth quarter of 2007, when the recession began.Economists say employment at large firms is likely to remain flat through much of 2010. Many companies already have hit their hiring targets for what’s expected to be a weak and bumpy recovery.“We’re in very much of a holding pattern for 2010,“ said Brian Bethune, an economist at IHS Global Insight.The National Federation of Independent Business said yesterday that more small businesses plan to reduce employment than increase it. Only 7 percent of small companies expect to hire in the next three months, the group found. Seventeen percent expect to reduce employment.

As companies hire extra workers for the holidays, some of these seasonal employees are wondering: How do I turn this into something permanent? Retailers that are typically big seasonal employers are suffering through a prolonged slump in consumer spending that has forced many to cut back staffing. Other employers, such as the U.S. Postal Service, have hiring freezes.

ALLENTOWN, Pa.—As he trumpeted a slowdown in the nation’s job losses yesterday, President Barack Obama put finishing touches on a proposal he’ll unveil next week to “jump-start” business hiring across America. On Tuesday, Obama plans to send Congress an initial list of ideas he supports for a new jobs bill. Among the ideas he likely will endorse is the expansion of a program that gives people cash incentives to fix up their homes with energy-saving materials, two senior administration officials said.

The national unemployment rate edged down in November, and by more than economists had thought, but the number of people losing jobs last month still outran the number of those finding work. The rate fell to 10 percent in November from 10.2 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday. Unemployment stood at 6.8 percent a year ago, as the recession started biting.

The number of Richmonders losing jobs is coming down, but hiring is still pretty slow, the state’s latest employment numbers show. The number of Richmondarea residents making a first claim for unemployment insurance after losing their jobs declined to 4,504 in October from 5,057 in September, the Virginia Employment Commission reported yesterday.

As unemployment spikes, the cost of compassion is going up, too. By as much as $100 billion. That’s the potential price of a push by Democrats in Congress to continue providing extra help to the jobless beyond the core 26-week unemployment-insurance package provided under permanent law. The jaw-dropping numbers combine the approximately $85 billion cost of continuing emergency benefits through 2010 for the long-term unemployed—jobless more than six months—plus an estimated $15 billion to continue subsidies to help pay COBRA health-insurance premiums.

The Federal Reserve doesn’t expect the recovery will be strong enough to quickly drive down the jobless rate. Most Fed policymakers said it could take “five or six years” for the economy and the labor market to be consistently healthy, according to documents released yesterday of the Fed’s closed-door meeting earlier this month. The Fed expects the unfolding recovery will be gradual, as modest growth keeps the nation’s unemployment rate elevated over the next several years.

The White House’s claim that the federal stimulus bill has created or saved a million jobs will someday earn the administration a plaque in the Dubious Assertions Hall of Fame. The Associated Press already has catalogued some fancy numerical footwork, such as double-counting, quadruple-counting, and related forms of overstatement that sometimes inflated stimulus-related job tallies by a factor of 10.

Job openings are at rock-bottom levels, according to government and private surveys released yesterday. It’s a trend that could keep the unemployment rate high even as layoffs slow. Small businesses in particular are reluctant to add workers as they struggle to obtain credit. Many are pushing their employees to produce more. Economists say small businesses account for about 60 percent of new jobs.

Judy Turner, Robert Terry and the others walking in to notes of “Pomp and Circumstance” were not your typical graduates—some were a little gray around the temples and some had grandchildren in the audience. But an uncertain economy and dismal job prospects sent them back to class. Yesterday, they earned certificates for completing an 11-week job-skills program in which topics included everything from how to use a flash drive to dressing for interviews.

Even in a recession, demand for surgical supplies continues to grow. And so AVID Medical keeps growing. The James City County-based company, which recently completed an $8 million expansion that doubled the size of its plant, is benefiting growing demand in health care for pre-assembled surgery kits. The company, with a staff of more than 500 now, continues to add jobs and expects to employ more than 600 in about a year.