February’s record-breaking snowstorms worsened already sliding tax collections in Virginia, the state’s finance chief told lawmakers in another round of discouraging fiscal news.

And January unemployment data released Wednesday by the Virginia Employment Commission further illustrate the plodding pace of economic recovery. The number of idled workers grew to 315,200, or 6.9 percent, compared with 5.7 percent in January 2009. The unemployment rate is still well below the national average.