The strongest job gain from October to November was in trade and transportation, the sector that includes retailers. It grew by about 2,300 jobs.

“You had merchants hiring extra holiday workers during this time,” Lang said.

When adjusted for seasonal factors, the Richmond area jobless rate was about 5 percent in November, down from 5.2 percent in October, according to analysis by the Richmond-based research firm Chmura Economics & Analytics.

That compared with a seasonally adjusted state rate of 5 percent and a national rate of 5.8 percent, the firm said.

The Richmond area posted payroll job growth of 1.9 percent from November 2013 to November 2014. That was a bit slower than the U.S. job growth rate of 2 percent but better than the overall state growth rate of 0.4 percent.

“Overall, the Richmond economy looks very healthy and continues to grow much faster than the state,” said Christine Chmura, an economist and president of Chmura Economics & Analytics. “But the state is growing much slower than the nation because of the impact of federal government spending cuts.”