BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Alabama officials say the state’s unemployment rate is at a historic low.
The state’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted October unemployment rate is 3.6 percent. That’s down from 3.8 in September, which tied the previous record, Al.com reported.
A year ago, the state’s jobless rate was 6.1 percent.
“What we are doing is working, and as a result, the people of Alabama are working,” Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.
Al.com’s look at jobless rates in the Alabama’s 67 counties shows how deep the drop in unemployment has been.
Only two counties have an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent or higher - Clarke County, at 6.6 percent, and Wilcox County, at 8.1 percent.
Shelby County had the lowest rate at 2.6 percent.
Alabama’s number of unemployed people is 77,358, according to the state Department of Labor.
Statewide, 2,079,576 people were counted as being employed.
Statistically, Alabama’s workers are also earning more, Al.com reported. The state’s wage and salary employment figures are currently at the third-highest level since record keeping began, Alabama Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said.
The biggest gains over the last year by industry were in the leisure and hospitality sector, with more than 7,000 jobs; professional and business services with more than 6,400; and 6,000 jobs added in the manufacturing sector.
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