The unemployment rate in Alabama was 2.2% in April, a record low and down from March’s 2.3% and April 2022’s 2.5%.
The April rate represents another new low: 51,462 unemployed people, down almost 4,700 from a year ago.
“Yet again, we see the resiliency of our state’s workforce. When Alabama works, Alabama families thrive and records are broken time and time again,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a written statement this morning. “We have a quick growing economy, and we are leading the game when it comes to economic success. Boasting the lowest unemployment rate in the Southeast, Alabama is well on its way to having the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.”
The number of people in the workforce reached a new record, increasing 3,367 over the month to 2,293,022.
“Continuing this positive trend, Alabama’s employers added more than 40,000 jobs over the last year, reaching the third highest jobs count in history,” Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “Wages have yet again set a new record high, rising by more than $30 a week since last month alone. More money in the pockets of Alabamians is always a good thing.”
Labor participation was the focus of a recent summit organized in part by Ivey’s office earlier this month.
While the unemployment rate — those activity seeking jobs — continues to drop, state officials are still trying to count the state’s higher-than-average labor participation rate — able-bodied adults in the workforce — of just under 57%.
Over the year, wage and salary employment increased 40,800 to 2,143,700, with the largest gains in the private education and health services sector, the government sector and the professional and business services sector, according to Labor.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates in April were: Shelby, 1.3%; Morgan, Marshall, Madison and Cullman, 1.4%; and St. Clair, Limestone, Lawrence, Elmore and Blount, 1.5%.
Counties with the highest unemployment rates were: Wilcox, 6%; Greene, 4%; and Clarke, 3.7%.
Major cities with the lowest unemployment rates were: Alabaster, Madison, Trussville and Vestavia Hills, 1.2%; Homewood, Hoover and Northport, 1.3%; and Athens, 1.4%.
Major cities with the highest unemployment rates were: Selma 4.5%,; Prichard, 3.2%; and Bessemer and Gadsden, 2.5%.