Alabama’s June Unemployment Rate Holds Steady at 6.8%

Record Number of Jobs Reported on State Jobs Database

MONTGOMERY – Governor Robert Bentley announced Friday that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate is 6.8%, which is unchanged from May’s rate.  June’s rate represents 144,991 unemployed persons, compared to 146,976 in May, a decrease of 1,985 persons.

“For Alabamians who want a job, we remain focused on helping them find and keep a job,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “Just this week, we were able to announce three new projects resulting in hundreds of well-paying jobs for Alabamians. These jobs are a sign that existing companies are confident in the Alabama economy.”

Alabama’s economy generated approximately 5,000 more jobs when compared to Alabama’s wage and salary employment in June 2013. Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 5,200, with gains in the manufacturing sector (+3,900), the leisure and hospitality sector (+2,700), the professional and business services sector (+2,300), and the education and health services sector (+900), among others. Monthly gains were seen in the manufacturing sector (+2,600), the trade, transportation, and utilities sector (+800), and the professional and business services sector (+600), among others.

JobLink (www.joblink.alabama.gov), Alabama’s free online jobs database, saw yet another record breaking month, as active job orders reached 27,268, up significantly from the 14,755 job orders recorded in June of last year. Truck drivers, retail supervisors, and registered nurses continue to account for the most in-demand jobs advertised online, according to the Help Wanted Online (HWOL) data.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 5.0%, Baldwin and Cullman Counties at 5.7%, and Lee and Cherokee Counties at 5.9%.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 17.2%, Perry County at 14.8%, and Dallas County at 14.3%.

###

The Governor’s Press Office can be reached at 334-241-7150.

“Seasonal adjustment” refers to BLS’s practice of anticipating certain trends in the labor force, such as hiring during the holidays or the surge in the labor force when students graduate in the spring, and removing their effects to the civilian labor force. The Current Population (CPS), or the household survey, is conducted by the Census Bureau and identifies members of the work force and measures how many people are working or looking for work. The establishment survey, which is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, surveys employers to measure how many jobs are in the economy.  This is also referred to as wage and salary employment.