By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
Alabama’s unemployment rate in September remained at a record 2.6%, compared to 3.2% in September 2021.
The latest rate represents 59,558 unemployed people, compared to 58,913 in August and 71,989 in September 2021, according to the Alabama Department of Labor.
“Despite the uncertainty facing the U.S. economy, Alabama has managed to add 50,000 new jobs since September of 2021 and is on pace to break its previous record for yearly job growth,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a written statement this morning.
Over the year, wage and salary employment increased by 53,800, representing the largest year-to-date growth of 2.6%, with the largest gains being in the education and health services, professional and business services and manufacturing sectors.
“While we are of course happy to maintain a record low unemployment rate, we’re even more pleased to announce that we are within around 10,000 jobs of beating our previously held jobs count record – set in 2019 – and we saw the largest year-over-year job growth so far in 2022,” Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “We’ve added over 50,000 jobs since this time last year, which is remarkable.”
The unemployment rate measures the number of Alabamians who are actively seeking work.
Average weekly wages increased to $1,007.07 in September, the second highest on record, according to labor. This represents an over the year increase of $22.53 and 2.3% growth.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates in September were: Shelby, 1.8%; Marshall and Cullman, 2%; and Morgan, Limestone, Chilton, and Blount, 2.1%.
Counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox, 9%; Lowndes, 6.6%; and Dallas at 6.2%.
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates were: Vestavia Hills, 1.5%; Homewood, 1.6%, and Trussville, 1.7%.
Major cities with the highest unemployment rates were: Selma, 7.3%, Prichard, 6.%; and Anniston; 4.2%.