Alabama’s Unemployment Rate Hits Historic Low

Gov. Kay Ivey has announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted September unemployment rate is 3.8%, down from August’s rate of 4.2%, and well below September 2016’s rate of 6.0%.  According to Ivey’s office, the last time Alabama’s unemployment rate was this low was in April 2007, when it also measured 3.8%, the lowest rate in recorded history.

“We’ve been working extremely hard over the past six months to bring Alabama’s unemployment rate down, and today’s news shows that our efforts are paying off,” Ivey said.

“All 67 counties experienced drops in their unemployment rates, both over the year and over the month, and for the first time in a decade, no county has a rate in the double digits,” said Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington.

Counties with the lowest unemployment rates are: Shelby County at 2.4%, Marshall and Cullman Counties at 2.8%, and Madison, Lee, and Elmore Counties at 2.9%.  Counties with the highest unemployment rates are: Wilcox County at 8.9%, Clarke County at 6.7%, and Dallas County at 6.3%.

Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates are: Vestavia Hills at 2.2%, Alabaster and Homewood at 2.3%, and Hoover at 2.4%.  Major cities with the highest unemployment rates are: Selma at 7.0%, Prichard at 6.4%, and Bessemer at 4.7%.