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Virginia’s unemployment rate held steady from November to December at 2.8 percent, its lowest point since April 2001.

The jobless rate was down from 3.6 percent in December 2017, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Friday.

The rate, which has been adjusted for seasonal factors, declined as Virginia’s labor force increased for the third straight month, and the number of people counted as unemployed in the state declined by 740 to 123,180.

“I think this is an overall fairly good report,” said Ann Lang, senior economist for the Virginia Employment Commission.

Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained below the national rate, which was 3.9 percent in December, up from 3.7 percent in the previous month.

Virginia had the seventh-lowest rate among states in December, along with Minnesota and Nebraska.

Joseph Mengedoth, associate regional economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said the December report was “somewhat mixed.”