Alabama’s Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.6%

Wage and Salary Employment at its Highest Level Since 2008

MONTGOMERY—Governor Robert Bentley on Friday announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted September unemployment rate is 6.6%, down from the rate in August of 6.9%. September’s rate represents 140,674 unemployed persons, compared to 147,248 in August.

“The number of jobs employers reported in Alabama in September is the highest we have seen since December 2008, and that is thanks to the strong economic development efforts we have put in place to create jobs,” Governor Bentley said. “Our economy is supporting more jobs today than it has in the past five years, and our efforts will continue until every Alabamian who wants a job has the opportunity to have one. September’s unemployment rate is the lowest rate we’ve seen in seven months, and we are confident that this trend will continue.”

Wage and salary employment in September rose by 12,700.  Monthly gains were seen in the government sector (+7,600), the education and health services sector (+2,800), and the professional and business services sector (+1,800), among others.  Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 31,600, with gains in the leisure and hospitality sector (+9,000), the manufacturing sector (+7,900), the professional and business services sector (+7,900), the education and health services sector (+3,100), the construction sector (+2,800), among others.

JobLink, the state’s free online jobs database (www.joblink.alabama.gov), registered 23,829 active job orders in September. The Help Wanted Online (HWOL) data showed 53,229 total job ads were placed online in Alabama.  The most advertised careers are: truck drivers, retail supervisors, and registered nurses.

“Every county in Alabama experienced a decrease in their unemployment rate this month,” Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington said. “Five counties with traditionally high unemployment rates saw their rates drop more than two percentage points.”

Monroe (-2.0), Dallas (-2.2), Sumter (-2.3), Wilcox (-2.3) and Perry (-2.8) counties all experienced decreases of more than two percentage points.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 4.3%, Lee and Cherokee Counties at 4.7%, and Blount County at 4.8%.

September 2014 Unemployment Rate by County

September 2014 Map

“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.