Alabama’s June Unemployment Rate is 6.1%

MONTGOMERY – Governor Robert Bentley announced Friday that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate is 6.1%.

“Even though our unemployment rate remained unchanged this month, we are pleased that since January 2011, our month over month growth in wage and salary employment, a trend that began in January 2011, continues,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “Today, there are almost 75,000 more jobs in Alabama than there were in June 2011. This is good news for Alabamians who are looking to find a job.”

Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 23,600 to 1,952,800, with gains in the education and health services sector (+6,800), the leisure and hospitality sector (+4,900), and the construction sector (+4,000), among others. In June 2011, wage and salary employment was 1,878,200.

Wage and salary employment decreased in June by 1,900.  Monthly gains were seen in the construction sector (+2,300), the leisure and hospitality sector (+1,600), and the manufacturing sector (+800), among others.

“The June unemployment rate continues to reflect what we saw last month,” Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald Washington said.  “It is not uncommon to see unemployment rise or remain steady during the summer months, usually as a result of an increase in the labor force as students and graduates search for work, and teachers and other school employees are not employed.”

All of Alabama’s 67 counties have lower unemployment rates than those of a year ago.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are:  Shelby County at 4.6%, Elmore County at 5.4%, and Baldwin County at 5.5%.

Unemployment Rate by County, June 2015

June 2015 Map

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“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.